Deceptions
by WolfMoon
Summary: ~*COMPLETE*~*AU*~Acused of CD's murder, HP flees the wizarding world with Sirius in fear of his life, in their travels they meet a mysterious stranger who offers them a place at a new school. In the wizarding worlds hour of need, will HP and SB come back?
1. Prologue

AN: I do not do chapter titles very often. It is possible that I will sometimes, but not very likely.

Disclaimer: I don't know why people bother with these things. What's the point? It's fanfiction, the very name says that we are taking someone else's story, because we like it, and creating a new story from it. This is the one and only one that I am going to do for this story. I do not own Harry Potter in any sense. I do own the plot. If you have a plot like mine, and you think that I stole it from you, I didn't, this is just an annoying little idea that has been playing at the back of my mind for a while. Thank you. Please read and review – or flame is you want to.

Prologue:

 Harry stood in the window of his bedroom in number four Privet Drive, his home during the summer holidays – though he could not ever really thinking of it as 'home' since he had been to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was his home.

 At the moment there were silent tears in his eyes, wet trails glistening in the light of the full moon that shone brilliant orange as it rose over the horizon.

 He didn't make any move to brush the wetness from his face – what was the point? There wasn't one, they would only be replaced again, so why bother getting rid of them.

 Most might view the fact that an almost fifteen year old boy was crying as out of the ordinary, after all, so many people seemed to think that men should not cry, and neither should teenage boys.

 If those people knew what Harry had been through just four days before, they would not hold his tears against him. The Dark Lord was back – that would be enough to scare most adults freeze, or cry out in despair, but not Harry.

 That the Dark Lord was back, he scarcely cared, the man had been trying to come back for three years, and so it barely seemed important that he had managed it this time. What mattered in Harry's mind was that this time the Dark Lord had killed in his attempt to come back.

 What was worse than that, was that it had been an innocent who should not have been caught up in the whole thing who had been killed. Harry would not have minded if the Dark Lord had killed him – he'd be dead, wouldn't he? – but he had defied Lord Voldemort so many times that there would be something wrong with the man if he didn't try to kill the one who had first defeated him near fourteen years before, and had thwarted his attempts to come back to power, or ruined his plans, twice since then.

 Yes, Lord Voldemort trying – whether he succeeded or failed – to kill him would have been completely normal and expected, but he had killed Cedric Diggory – a boy who by rights should not have been there, in any way involved with the plan to bring the Dark Lord back.

 Well, now Cedric was dead and it was Harry's fault. If he hadn't insisted on Cedric taking the Triwizard Cup with him, the other boy would have still been alive today, enjoying the summer holidays, happily ignorant of the fact that the most feared Dark Lord of the last century at least had come back to power.

 The Ministry would have kept that knowledge from everyone in any case, but the fact that someone had_ died by the hand of one of the Dark Lords servants should have meant that they at least believed that Lord Voldemort was back._

 But no. They had to be stubborn and pretend that nothing was wrong – that is, if Fudge, the Minister of Magic, had even told the rest of the Ministry what had happened.

 But he must have – he would have told them that it was all some story that he – Harry – had cooked up to get more attention and publicity, but he would have told them, if only to warn them that Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore were in a plot to frighten the wizarding world and sow havoc for reasons that Fudge himself was not aware of.

 Yes. He would have told them something like that. And they would have believed him, the fools. If Fudge's word was not enough, that would be the story that Lucius Malfoy would be spreading, and so no one would have the courage to put forward the idea that this was a fake story – they all feared the wrath of the Malfoy family far to much to risk that!

 Harry shook his head angrily. Fools, the lot of them. But who could blame a person for being afraid? He certainly couldn't, he was afraid most of the time these days, after all, with Voldemort back, fear was a good thing. What he could – and did – blame them for was not doing anything about being afraid, or finding out what was the truth.

 Emerald eyes flashed suddenly in anger, the sorrow was momentarily forgotten in a rush of anger at the Ministry of Magic – the people who were supposed to be the foundation poles of the magical world in England. How could cowards have come to places of such power? It was absolutely foolish, in Harry's mind, that people put so much store in the fact that purebloods – people who's families had always been wizards and witches – were given the top jobs simply because of that, whereas people with talent and bravery were shoved to the side simply because they had Muggle – non magical – blood in them.

 His mother had been a Muggle born, a witch who's family had never known that magic existed outside of the fairytales that were read to little children. But she had been a great person, brave to the point that she was ready to give up her life for that of her son, simply so that he would have the chance to live, even if it was without her.

 His father had been a pureblood, and he had heard from several people that at the time, most of the old pureblood families had been horrified at the thought of the partnership.

 Suddenly his sharp eyes, hidden behind their glasses, picked out the shape of an owl framed against the light of the rising moon.

 He smiled faintly, wondering if it was coming to him, and if it was, who it was from and what news it brought. He had received four owls in as many days from his friends Ron and Hermione telling him to blame himself for what had happened with Cedric and Voldemort – as if they would have done any differently had they been in his position.

 Was this another one of those letters? If it was he didn't really want to receive it, because he wasn't interested in them telling him that he had to put the incident behind him and live his life to the best of his ability, like he had before. Useless, in Harry's opinion. What was the point of it? He could never live as he had before, things had changed too much for that to ever happen, and it was no use to hope for that – it could never go back to what was.

 The owl was coming closer now, and Harry was sure that it was for him now, he'd never seen one come as close as that and then go in another direction.

 Sure enough, the creature swooped through the open window five minutes later, Harry was waiting at Hedwig's cage, watching it patiently. Was it something harmful, from Voldemort or the like?

 He peered at the letter that the owl held out to him from it's perch without touching it. The seal said that it was from Hogwarts, but how far could he trust appearances? Especially one so well known.

 He sighed softly. If it _was from Voldemort, he wasn't so sure that he wanted to live anyway, so it wouldn't matter if the Dark Lord killed him, and if that did happen, maybe it would make the Ministry get off their backsides and actually do something about the threat of Voldemort remaking his empire of terror, the like of which had been known just fourteen years before._

 On the other hand, if it actually _was from Hogwarts, he wouldn't have any problems. Reaching out, he took the letter, half expecting a jerk behind his naval that would take him into Voldemort's clutches, but it didn't come. He couldn't tell whether he was thankful or disappointed, and that made him feel somewhat scared._

 He carefully lifted the seal up, not breaking it, he liked the Hogwarts seal and maybe he would keep this one. Once he had opened the envelope he lifted out the letter with the same careful moves, and finally opening it.

 As he did open it, he sat down at his desk, smoothing the creases gently, scarcely noticing as the owl that had delivered it took off and swooped out of the window and away into the night.

 The words on the letter chilled him – and made him angrier than ever at the foolishness of the Ministry of Magic in general, and the Minister in particular.

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

_It grieves me to inform you that, against my wishes and councils, the Minister of Magic has come to the decision, with the full support of the Heads of the Departments, that you're claim of the fact that Lord Voldemort had returned four days ago was simply a farce to hide the fact that you murdered Cedric Diggory so as to clear your way to the Triwizard Cup, and that Barty Crouch Jr., they _have_ at least decided that he is indeed the supposedly dead son of the late Barty Crouch, was an aide because you had promised him half of the winnings when you got them._

_ I am terribly sorry for this, and I am sure that it must come as quite a shock to you, but then, Cornelius has a habit of disbelieving things that he feels might be a threat to his success and office, simply because that is what they are. _

_ He refuses to act on the information that you, Severus and I gave to him, along with the advice of both myself and Severus, and instead judges that we, too, were in on this plot, despite the fact that just a year gone he had been offering the Order of Merlin, possibly first class, to Severus for capturing Sirius Black and the fact that my Potions Master obviously hated you._

_ You are to be arrested tomorrow afternoon, no one should know of this, but a friend of mine was able to get the information to me, believing your story to be the correct you. I will not give their name here, in case this should fall into the wrong hands._

_ I acted immediately on the information and contacted Padfoot, as he insists on being called in letters, and he is more than happy to give you any help that you might need._

_ He will meet you in front of the Surrey Mall tomorrow morning at eleven o'clock. Bring with you everything that you believe you might need, or want. What you leave behind will no doubt be confiscated, and destroyed if it holds no clue to what has happened to you. _

_I warn you to leave anything that might link you to Padfoot here, as this will probably do nothing but give the Ministry the proof that what Fudge claims is the right of the matter._

_ Destroy this letter before you leave, if not immediately after you have read it, and be as careful as you can in the upcoming months, though I'm sure that Padfoot will give you all of the tips and help that you could need or want. He won't let anything happen to you._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore._

 Harry was in shock as he finished reading the letter. How could Fudge do that? How could the Ministry support him? They should all know that he was a hero, that he stood for almost everything good. Certainly he had a disregard for the rules, but who could blame a few broken rules? Sirius and James had both broken thousands every year, with no better excuse than that they liked doing it, or at least, they liked pranks, and if they got in trouble for it, it didn't matter, because they'd do it again in a second anyway.

 He only broke the rules when he had to, and that was only when he was trying to prevent something disastrous from happening … well, it _usually_ was. He certainly didn't brake as many as some that he knew of.

 But protesting the fact that this had happened wasn't going to get him anywhere. The fact was that it _had happened, and there was nothing left to but act on the information that he had been given, in the time that he had to act in. Which wasn't much._

 Thankfully he hadn't really been bothered to unpack his trunk in the last four days, he had been too depressed or too busy doing the chores that the Dursley's had given him.

 Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even spoken once to a human since leaving Platform Nine and Three Quarters. He had not bothered with saying hello to his uncle, simply nodded, and a nod of his head was all the response that he had given his relatives over the last few days, or a shake of it. 

 He had spoken to Hedwig, to reassure both her and himself in the late hours of the night, or the early hours of the morning.

 Shaking himself slightly, Harry walked over to the loose floorboard beneath his bed, laying flat on his stomach to reach it, and lifted it open, feeling inside until he found what he was reaching for: a large sack of gold that he had left over from the last summer. He'd forgotten it when he went to the Weasley's, he had plenty in his bank if he needed it.

 Could he get to that? If he was about to be accused of being a murderer, he doubted that he would be able to go into a bank and get out money. In fact, he knew completely well that he wouldn't be able to.

 How long would it take to get to Diagon Alley by broom, he wondered. Could he be there and back by the time that he had to meet Sirius? For that was of course who Dumbledore had meant by 'Padfoot' that had been Harry's godfathers nickname from his friends at school.

 Sirius Black was a convicted murderer who had been sent to jail for crimes that he had not committed, and had escaped the wizard prison, Azkaban, the first escapee since the place had been built.

 He had met up with Harry a little over a year ago – it seemed odd in a way, not two years ago, Harry had not known his name, just under a year ago he had wanted the man dead more than anything in the world, and now he was looking forward to spending time with the man he now knew as his godfather, even if it was because those he had thought he could trust had turned against him.

 He was just debating whether or not he could try to fly to Diagon Alley when another owl flew in through the window.

 Again deciding that the possible risk was worth the possible gain, Harry took the offered letter, and was glad that he had when he realized that it was from his godfather. 

 _Harry,_

_ It's me, Padfoot. I trust that you got Dumbledore's letter. Don't worry about anything, I got Dumbledore to give Remus a spare key to your account in Gringotts and get out some money._

_ Well, a lot of money. If you were worried about that, don't be, I have five sacks full of galleons, and another three of sickles and knuts, so we won't go without money, rest assured._

_ If all goes well, I'll meet you tomorrow morning at ten at the mall. I'll be Padfoot, so don't look for anyone else, ok? Have as good a night as is possible when you know that the world will soon be out for your head,_

_ Sirius._

 He smiled. Trust Sirius to end a letter with something like that. He suddenly found himself greatly looking forward to the next morning, what ever the reason that he would be joining his godfather was.

 And Sirius had thought of money too, that was a relief, now the problem of whether or not he could reach Diagon Alley in time was solved – he didn't have to get there in the first place.

 With a sigh he checked on the last things that he had taken out of his trunk and replaced them carefully, feeling thankful that he had already eaten dinner – he didn't want to see the faces of the people he knew would tell the Ministry every bad thing he ever did – real or imagined – the moment they were asked.

 Harry fell into bed, though it was still in the early hours of night compared to his usual sleeping times, which were from about three or four in the morning till sometime in the mid afternoon, thus avoiding the Dursley's as much as possible.

 It was just after nine at night now, but Harry knew that he would sleep easily, he could sleep when he wanted to, he'd found, no matter what hours he had slept the night before.

 Falling into bed, he did indeed find himself asleep a few moments later, though not in the manner that he thought he would.

 _'Master, I have convinced Fudge that his idle speculation about the Potter boy being a murderer could be true, and the rest of the Ministry fell in step almost instantly. Master, I hope that I have been able to aid your plans in some way, however small it might be.'_

_ It was Lucius Malfoy, the father of Harry's greatest enemy in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, kneeling at the feet of Lord Voldemort, a tall pale-skinned man with a lipless mouth and snake like nostrils, his eyes, demon red, glowed eerily in the darkness, and Harry shivered._

_ 'Who are you to think that you aid me? Who are you to even suggest that I might need the aid of anyone else? But since you have managed to lessen the things that I would have done myself, I will not punish you. This time. If it happens again, you will regret it, Lucius,' Voldemort hissed at the man on the floor in front of him._

_ Harry shivered again slightly. He remembered back in his third year when Dumbledore had said, 'Lord Voldemort shows as much mercy to his followers as he does his enemies. None.'_

_ Wormtail entered the room, and Harry snarled softly, silently as far as those in the room were concerned, though he could hear himself._

_ 'My lord, there is no words on the giants,' he spoke out, before realizing that there was another in the room. He didn't have the time to apologize for the Cruciatus curse hit him in the chest and he fell screaming._

_ Harry jerked from the dream into the waking world with a cry of pain._

For a moment he lay on his bed, panting softly, before he turned his head and slept again, trying to ignore the pain in his scar that burned so viciously.

 He must have succeeded, because the next thing he knew was waking up in the early hours of the morning, six, his alarm said when he looked at it after shoving his glasses on his nose.

 He dragged himself to his feet and stumbled downstairs making as little noise as possible, and got things ready for his relatives breakfast to be cooked in two hours or so when they were about to wake up. He knew the routine well by now, and went back upstairs to read a book for an hour or so.

 He had a good one that Hermione had sent him, apparently with the hope of taking his mind off the events of the last day of school. He'd heard of the book before, of course, but he had never been given the chance to read it – not when it included things to do with 'magic' and 'make-believe', but the Lord of the Rings was a good read, and just the thought of thing he felt like at the moment.

 He'd read the Hobbit already, it had not taken him long, but he had enjoyed it immensely, and he was already five hundred pages into the actual trilogy, Helms Deep was the name of the chapter, it was in the Two Towers, the second book.

 An hour and a little over fifty pages later, Harry got up and headed downstairs again to begin the breakfast. Just as he finished cooking it, the Dursley's appeared sitting around the table and ignoring him as usual. He wondered if they'd even realize that he had gone, or if they did, how long it would take them.

 He ate his own breakfast quickly and headed upstairs to read some more of the book before he went to meet Sirius. At half past ten, Harry got up and took out his wand. 

 He felt a little nervous, he'd never deliberately done magic out of school, as it was against the law, but he shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts and shrunk his trunk swiftly before heading downstairs with it in his pocket.

 He said nothing as he opened the door and went outside, but none of the Dursley's noticed, he went out every day when he woke up, and it didn't seem at all unusual that he would do it now.

 He smiled to himself. This is the last time I'll ever be in this house again, probably, he thought. Well, goodbye and good riddance! With that thought he headed away quickly, knowing that it probably wouldn't be long before an owl arrived in the Dursley's house, but they wouldn't notice anything besides that he wasn't there to yell at. They wouldn't think of wondering why he had needed a shrinking charm, not until the Aurors or whoever appeared in the afternoon asking after him.

 That would give them a surprise, Harry thought. The relatives of the famous boy who lived not even caring for their nephew enough to wonder where he was or if he was alright.

 He shrugged slightly. That wasn't his problem anymore, his problem was finding Sirius. He thought that his godfather would probably be early, in case the Aurors were also early, and upon reaching the mall, found that he had been correct. 

 It was Sunday morning and not many people were about now, most of them were still at church, so it was an easy enough feat getting close to him without startling him.

 Sirius saw him and moved slightly, showing a lead that was attached to the pole beside him, a studded leather collar encircled his neck and he gave Harry a disgusted look, as if saying, _Look at what I have to do!_

 Harry walked closer and took the lead from the pole. "Good boy, Padfoot! You stayed! Well done!" he said in an enthusiastic praising the dog sort of voice. Sirius gave him a cold glance and bounded to his feet, all but pulling Harry along behind him as he headed the path, and then turned… they moved through so many streets that Harry felt somewhat lost just thinking about it, although he still recognized the areas that they were in.

 They kept moving until they reached an abandoned building a short way out of town, it had been on the outskirts of a forest once, but now the forest had grown around it, and the run down place was forgotten by most. 

 The moment they were inside, Sirius transformed back to a human and removed the collar from his human neck. "I hate that thing, but I'd have hated being taken to a pound more I suppose. At least, that's what I tell myself," he remarked.

 Harry laughed and threw himself at his godfather, who engulfed him in a huge hug. "I missed you kid, I hope you've been alright," Sirius said.

 "I've been fine, and it's only been four days since I saw you last. What happened to what Dumbledore wanted to do? Where is Professor Lupin? Why did …" Harry said, trying to ask all of his questions at once, which didn't work very well.

 Sirius smiled slightly. "Whoa there kid," he said. "Dumbledore and I both agreed that your safety and welfare was more important than what he had wanted me to do originally, and Remus can continue doing that without my help, which is what he is doing now, to answer those two questions, and instead of asking me a whole heap of questions, let's get your things out and deshrunk so we can get started with the things that you'll be needing now."

 "Ok," Harry dug out the trunk in question and took out his wand. 

 Before he could say anything, however, Sirius took the wand gently out his hand. "First thing: the Ministry can trace the use of underaged wizardry, so they'd be able to find us if you did that. I'll do it for you and take off the spell on the wand – James and I worked out how to do it in time for the summer before our sixth year,' he said.

 Harry smiled slightly and nodded at his own mistake, placing his trunk on a table that was still in position even after the owners had long since given up on the old place.

 Sirius performed the charm that brought his things back to normal size, and then tapped the wand with his finger three times sharply, muttering something under his breath. 

 There was a flash of gold streaked white light and Sirius handed the wand back to Harry. "There, it won't pick up on underaged wizardry from now on," he stated, and looked about to say more when his head jerked up, listening for something.

 Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Sirius held a finger to his lips to indicate silence, transformed into the form of a giant black dog and slipped swiftly away, towards the front of the house.

 Harry sighed and settled down to wait for his godfathers return. It came a few moments later, Sirius human as he entered the room. "There's a group of fat boys out there, throwing stuff at the house, I think they might be trying to work up the courage to come inside," he told Harry.

 "I think that might be my cousin," Harry said, he remembered Dudley saying something about a game of dares or something once, Petunia had tried to talk him out of it, but no way was Dudley going to stay behind – they'd think he was a coward!

 "If you just go and bark at them when the come into the house, they'd be running for home as fast as their legs can carry them. Not fast, I'll admit, but they'll still be gone," Harry said.

 Sirius grinned, "want to come and hide so you can watch?" he asked, a wicked light in his eyes.

 "Yes!" Harry said instantly. 

 "Come on then, I know where we can go, so you won't be heard by them if you make a noise or anything," Sirius headed towards the back of the house, and then up some steps and into a room that looked down on the front veranda.

 Sure enough, it was Dudley and his gang, throwing rocks at the moment and loudly daring each other to go inside. Sirius disappeared downstairs, changing form to a dog.

 Harry watching with mounting expectation as Dudley and his gang crept inside. Suddenly there was a snarling growl followed by a loud bark. Screams of terror rent the air and the group came tumbling out of the house, literally fighting with one another to get away from the place as quickly as possible.

 Harry was laughing softly to himself as he headed downstairs, grinning at Sirius, who was laughing hard.

 "You know, they'll all tell how you nearly bit their legs off, or jumped on them and how bravely they'd fought you," Harry remarked. "They did that once when I let a boa constrictor loose in a zoo by accident. It just bit at their heels playfully, and they were saying how it nearly strangled them, or nearly bit their legs off."

 Sirius chuckled a little at that. "Well, they won't be coming back here, but if they say that, perhaps their parents will call the police to investigate in a case of 'savage beasts', and that wouldn't be good for us," he said, growing serious.

 Harry nodded. "Does that mean we're moving?" he asked with calm acceptance. Sirius looked at him as if in surprise, shook his head slightly as if to clear it of something and then nodded. 

 "Yeah, we'll have to go further into the forest, I know that there is a very small run-down shepherds hut on the other side, we can stay there for a while, before I decide what to do next," he said.

 Harry nodded and re-shrunk his things, putting them into a pocket. Sirius, with a look of incredible distaste, told him to put the collar and lead on him again so that it just looked like a boy walking his dog, and no one would be suspicious if they saw.

***

 Back at Privet Drive, earlier that morning:

 Petunia screamed as an owl flew in through the window, and Vernon came at a run, he saw the owl and snarled a curse, grapping the letter it offered, not really noticing that it hooted in soft pain at his roughness.

 He flipped it open. "That boy has been doing you know what again," he growled. '"Well, he's out now, but the moment he comes back, he'll be in trouble, that's for sure!"

 Petunia nodded weakly, looking slightly faint.

 But Harry didn't come back, not that they really noticed, at least, not until a knock came at the door about three hours later.

 Vernon opened the door to find a crowd of people on his doorstep. He was about to tell them that he didn't support charities, when the leader of the group spoke.

 "We are here to arrest your nephew. We believe he may have murdered a boy, I know this may come as something of a shock –"

 "No, no, it sounds exactly something that he would do. He'll be upstairs I expect, his bedroom is just to the left of the stairs," Vernon replied, glee in his piggy little eyes. He didn't even care that these people must be wizards.

 When it was discovered that his trunk and everything for school was missing, they searched the entire house, founding some things of his in the cupboard under the stairs – the leader of the group looked disgusted when he learned that this had been where Harry had lived for the greater part of his life – and they called in a few more squads to search the town and see if they could find him.

 The original group left with orders that they were to be contacted should Harry come home, and if that did happen, the boy was to be held until they could get there. 

***

 Back at the Ministry the man who had led the team, Captain Gregory Stifle, paced around his office angrily. "How could they let a hero like him grow up in such a dismal place? I can't believe it, I'm surprised that he never killed them for mistreating him! Reports say that he was friends with the Diggory boy, to an extent," he snarled.

 Alastor – Mad-Eye – Moody, nodded his head in agreement. "The boys no murderer, Stifle," he said. "I believe what Dumbledore told us was the truth, Voldemort is back-" he ignored Stifle's flinch, "and he killed Diggory at the end of the third task.

 "I know perfectly well that I was contained for the entire year, stunned and under Imperious, at the hands of Barty Crouch Jr. and nothing that Fudge claims can convince me otherwise, although I'll be hard pressed to make anyone else believe me, since I've been 'jumping at shadows' for so long now."

 Stifle sighed and nodded. "I'm prepared to believe you, I never knew Dumbledore to be wrong once he claimed something was the truth, but you know that I can't support the two of you openly, or I'll lose my job here, Fudge won't let people who doubt his cause remain here for long," he said.

 "That's fine, boy, as long as your prepared to help out with Dumbledore if he needs it," Moody growled. "I'd best be going, they'll get suspicious if I'm seen around you too often, but remember what I've told you, and don't forget-"

 Stifle, who knew the line off by heart, spoke along with Moody, "constant vigilance." Moody stepped into the fire and disappeared instantly.

********************************************************

Ok, I told you I'd start a new story soon. How was it? I hope you like it as much as the other ones. Please review, because there is no way I'm going to update this if I don't get some support from you! At least 10, hopefull 16 reviews before I update!

~WolfMoon~


	2. Chapter One

Special thanks:

Queen of the Jungle, my beta-reader and great friend! It's her birthday today, so this chapter is dedicated to her.

 Also thanks to valeries26, who reviewed no fewer than fifteen times! Thank you very much for your support, and I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations!

Chapter Two:   
  
Harry and Sirius stood inside the small shepherds hut, Harry shivered slightly, it was dank and cold here, and he didn't like it much.   
Sirius looked at him and sighed. "This life is hard, kid, and I would never choose it for you if I had any choice in the matter, believe me," he told him.   
Harry smiled wearily. "I know Sirius, but you don't have a choice and neither do I. This is what happened and we may as well make the best of it," he said.   
"You know, that sounded exactly like Lily used to," Sirius remarked. "Scary. She had a selection of sayings and was always telling us them. Well, she is your mother, so I guess you can be like her."   
Harry laughed. "So, what are we going to do now, Sirius?" he asked, he wasn't sure how to take this being on the run, and Sirius had been for two years, so he would know what he was doing more than Harry did.   
"Now? Sleep,' Sirius replied with a grin. Harry rolled his eyes, but he was tired enough and so he lay down too and slept. Sirius had changed form to a dog and lay in the doorway as if to protect him.   
It was night fall before Harry woke again, and that was to Sirius gently shaking him. "Come on kid, time to wake up now,' he said softly.   
Harry looked up at him, nodded once and stumbled to his feet, regaining his balance quickly, he followed Sirius out into the gathering darkness.   
Sirius was in human form for his journey, not seeming to think that people would see them, and Harry had to agree with him, the forest was rumored to be haunted, or to have some sort of murderer hiding out here, and no one ever came in here unless they had to, but never at night. He was a little nervous about that himself, but if Sirius was here he had no doubt that he would be completely safe.   
They were heading back to the other house, Harry realized, maybe there was food or something there. His stomach growled reminding him that he had not eaten since breakfast.   
Sirius looked behind at him and grinned. "Not too much farther now, once we get there we can eat and talk about what's going to happen next.'   
Harry simply nodded his head and kept walking, trying to forget all of the rumours about the forest, and having very little success, the harder he tried not to think of it the more things he could remember.   
"Here we are," Sirius remarked, stepping into the pale light of a just past full moon, the house illuminated and looking very creepy, they went inside silently. Sirius gestured to Harry to stay put while he searched the house in dog form.   
A moment later he was back. 'Ok, it's all clear,' he said, after changing to human form again.   
Harry nodded and they walked inside. Sirius went straight to what would have been the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards, careful not to break it, and pried up one of the floor boards. Beneath it was quite a stash of food.   
"Remus insisted on giving me a lot of food," Sirius remarked. "He said that while I might be used to not eating that much, you probably weren't, since your still a growing boy."   
"I'm not all that used to eating much either. It's not like the Dursley's ever gave me all that much. They nearly starved me last summer, but that was because the entire family was supposed to be on a diet,' Harry replied with a shrug.   
There was a silence, and the next time he looked up, Sirius was staring out towards the town with a look of pure murder on his face. "Someday they'll pay for every wrong thing they ever did to you. That is a promise," he said, his voice had a quiet conviction that was hard and cold. Harry knew that Sirius would do as he promised.   
"It's alright Sirius, I'm used to it," he said, knowing that it would mean nothing to his godfather, who simply smiled at him.   
'Do you want to make a fire for me? It's your wand, and it'll work for you better than it does for me.' Harry grinned, nodded and waved his wand towards the fire place.   
Immediately blue fire sprang from the tip of his wand and lit up the hearth. Hermione had taught him how to do that in second year, before she'd been petrified by the basilisk, as it had been very useful the year before.   
'Ok kid, we need to talk about what's going to happen now. First of all, I think that we should head over to Remus's and dump most of your stuff there, everything that you won't need. He can help me get a disguise together – the Marauders discovered it in school, and no one else knows this way – and then go to Diagon Alley. There we can get anything else you might need, as well as getting me a wand, which will make things easier.   
"I'm going to teach you what you'd learn in Hogwarts this year myself, when we get the time, that's as well as basic survival stuff that you might need. Maybe after that we can head around to the Weasley's place, Arthur already told me that if I needed a place to stay for a night or two, that I could come there, and I doubt that will have changed now that your with me. For now, we'll go over some of what you already know magic wise, and I'll teach you a few small spells that you might find useful, then we'll go tomorrow night. Much safer moving through the night.'   
  
***   
  
The next morning:   
Ron Weasley opened the Daily Prophet not expecting to see anything interesting but wanting something to do until the rest of his family came down for breakfast.   
The first thing he saw was a picture of Harry watching him wearily, it had been taken just after his recovery from the Third Task. As he read the article that went with it, he felt a mounting anger, and pity for his friend.   
Accused of murder, but not being there when the Aurors came to arrest him, not being able to be found, he'd run away from home, but was it because he'd got wind of what was going on, or for some other reason? The reporter wondered. The Captain in command of the squad that first went to look for Harry Potter said something about that if the boy had run away to get away from his relatives, he wouldn't have been surprised.   
Ron shook his head slightly. Both reasons were likely enough, he knew that his father had sent an owl to Dumbledore the night before last, and maybe that had been the information that had likely saved Harry's life.   
He'd ask his father when he came down for breakfast.   
Ron put the newspaper away, he didn't want to read about his friend being a murderer, and couldn't be bothered to look past that page. He'd admit Harry was a murder when Harry himself gave him proof that he could believe, which wouldn't happen.   
  
Somewhere else that morning:   
Draco Malfoy, soon to be fifth year of Hogwarts, was also up before his family, but he had breakfast, thanks to a house elf. When he read the article on the front page of the newspaper, his reaction was one very different from Ron Weasley's.   
"Well Potter, it seems that I came out on top after all. Pity you escaped before they could arrest you, but everyone knows your face and they'll all be against you now!' He wore a pleased smile as he waited to tell his father the good news. Potter was out of the way now!   
  
Yet another place:   
Albus Dumbledore smiled sadly when he saw the newspaper, even though he knew that it was happening. Well, at least Harry had gotten out before it was too late.   
At that moment there was a crash and most of the Hogwarts staff piled into the room, all babbling about the article, demanding that something be done about it.   
Severus Snape was the only one who look moderately calm, but even he appeared somewhat shaken. He mightn't like Harry Potter, but he knew how much the wizarding world needed him – Harry was a symbol of hope for many people.   
Dumbledore sighed slightly, he would have to tell a lie here. "I'm afraid I do not know where young Mr. Potter is, I expect that he simply ran away, I have since heard from his friends that his family was less than pleasant. I will keep you posted if I hear more.   
'Minerva, Severus, would you please remain behind?' he dismissed them without seeming to notice, a man who was upset and possibly angry about something.   
The two named remained where they were as the others slipped out of the room quickly. No one said anything.   
Once he was sure they were alone, Dumbledore looked to the two of the teachers that he trusted enough to tell the truth. He wished that he could trust the others, but one of them might tell someone that they shouldn't and it would ruin everything.   
"You know where the Potter boy is, don't you, Headmaster?' Severus asked coolly when Dumbledore relaxed.   
"Yes, he is with Sirius, who'll take care of him until we can prove that the Ministry was wrong to accuse him as they did. I do not know where they are now, and I do not want to. If I know then the Ministry might begin to suspect me, and this way if they question me, they won't find out much more than they knew already,' Dumbledore replied.   
Minerva had been told Sirius Black's true identity the night after the students had left. She'd been surprised for a moment, but she knew both that Dumbledore would never claim anything unless he was completely sure of where he stood, and that it made more sense the way that it was now explained to her.   
"So what do you want us to do?" She asked him, she was smart enough to know that he hadn't held them back just to tell them that.   
"I want you to keep an ear on the rumors that will circulate the school when the students come back, and among the teachers as well, and keep them from getting to out of hand. Keep it simple, find ways to disprove of the rumours in ways that won't get tongues wagging even more."   
"That shouldn't be too difficult,' Severus remarked. "May I go now?" Impatient to be away from Minerva, those two just didn't get on.   
"Certainly Severus, you may leave too, Minerva," Dumbledore replied, and watching them walk stiff backed out of the room with a faint sigh.   
  
***   
  
It was still early morning, only a few hours since Harry had got to sleep after his lesson with Sirius, but he was wide awake and alert, he could sense … something.   
"Sirius, something's wrong, we have to get out of here,' Harry said, shaking his godfather awake gently.   
Sirius stirred and scowled up at him. "What's going to happen?" He demanded irritably.   
"I don't know, but I've got a feeling, and it's better safe than sorry, isn't it?" Harry replied, frowning slightly. What was wrong? He couldn't quite place it.   
"Quite right, and if this is a false alarm, then we'll know that we don't need to trust your feelings anymore," Sirius replied, with all the cheerfulness of someone who has been woken up at a very unsavory hour of the morning when they had only just got to sleep. In other words: None.   
Sirius was obviously not a morning person, Harry didn't mind, some people were like that. "Come on then. The food is already in packs so that we can be on the way for Remus's tonight, and so is most of the other stuff," he said.   
Sirius dragged himself out of the makeshift bed and stumbled downstairs after Harry, collecting things that Harry shrunk to fit in their pockets, until they slipped out.   
Sirius looked around, and then gestured to one of the large trees that made up the forest. Harry nodded and handed his godfather the wand. Sirius made platforms appear so that they could climb up easily, and then got rid of them when they reached the first branch.   
Harry took out his invisibility cloak and threw it around both his and his godfathers shoulders, hiding them from the eyes of anyone who might be looking for them.   
Not a minute later, a party headed into the clearing, wizards, as was made clear by the fact that they were all carrying wands, and they were wearing the oddest of Muggle clothes – wizards didn't really know much about what Muggles wear.   
Sirius's breath came out in a sharp hiss in Harry's ear. "You could have just saved our lives kid," he told the boy.   
"Shut up," Harry replied. "They're still just down there, remember!" Sirius smiled and ruffled his godsons hair.   
It was a very tense situation, with the Aurors underneath them, searching the house. They heard some of the conversation from down below brought up on the wind.   
-"Was a wizard here, or more than one …"   
"For a day or so-"   
"-Maybe they were just resting here to do some magic or some…"   
It was half an hour before they left, and every minute made Harry and Sirius even more tense. Finally they left agreeing that though someone had been here, they were no longer, and probably wouldn't return.   
They did a quick check over the clearing and the forest around, but found nothing there, so they came to the conclusion that they had left the area completely.   
"It seems that Potter has left the area completely," the leader of the group said. "We will take that back to the Ministry and send out the order to keep a close watch on the area around here, he can't have got far."   
Then they were gone and Harry and Sirius slipped down the tree, pulling the cloak from their shoulders. "Remind me to pay very careful attention to you when you say that you sensed something in the future," Sirius told him, looking slightly awed.   
Harry simply nodded. "Now how about we get some more sleep so that we are refreshed for the journey tonight. I suppose we are still making it?"   
"Certainly. Just because they won't be looking for us here for now, that's no reason not to leave. We have to get your things from Diagon Alley and I would rather do that before anyone who might be suspicious of us will be there. Like anyone who knew you in school, because you might forget and greet them, which would ruin everything," Sirius replied.   
Harry sighed and nodded, heading inside.   
Something caught his eye on the rotting kitchen table. He touched Sirius's arm and pointed to it.   
It was, to all appearances, a note. Harry and Sirius walked over to it, they would not touch it for any reason, but were surprised to find it open and a quick few lines hastily scrawled over it.   
  
Potter, Black, yes I know you're here Black, I'm the Captain here, just thought I'd let you know that I support Dumbledore, not Fudge, though I must keep up an appearance at least of obeying Fudge, for fear of losing my job, I'm sure you understand.   
Should I be able to help in hiding you without letting my people know what I am doing, then I will do so. Should I be able to help you escape if you are caught, I will do so. So long as it cannot be traced back to me.   
I hope you do well, I've bought you a few days at least to get yourselves together.   
  
It was not signed, but Harry didn't expect it, and apparently neither did Sirius. "It's good to know that we've got a supporter, even if not an open one, but remember Harry, if you're on the run, there isn't anyone you can trust that you don't know personally, and even then you can only trust them so far. We can't trust the words of this letter, and that he knows we are here bodes ill. Still, we need rest, and we'll just have to trust in this letter for the minute. You sleep under the invisibility cloak, I'll stay in my animagus form."   
Harry merely nodded and they headed upstairs together.   
Harry learned very quickly that trying to sleep with an invisibility cloak was both difficult and uncomfortable, maybe Sirius would teach him how to become an animagus. If this happened very often, he hoped he would.   
Once asleep, however, very little could have woken Harry again, and indeed, nothing did until end of the of the sun was setting and it was time to go.   
He had to wake Sirius up, otherwise, his godfather confessed later, they probably wouldn't have gotten started until the next night.   
Nothing had changed downstairs, the note still lay were they'd left it, and nothing else was changed from when they had gone to sleep. "Can't trust appearances," Sirius remarked coolly, "so let's go."   
Harry was only too happy to follow this suggestion, and so they left the house with Harry on his Firebolt with the invisibility cloak on, and Sirius as a dog again.   
Sirius claimed that he could smell Harry perfectly well so they wouldn't get lost, and he was leading the way, so it didn't matter too much. Harry often swooped up into the air and dove downwards at a breakneck pace, just playing around, having fun with the fact that he was in the air, where he liked to be.   
Sirius had them moving at quite a fast pace for a dog, but since Harry was on the broom, he didn't really notice it, and they headed away from Surrey with the setting sun at their backs.   
Halfway across the flatlands, they suddenly heard a yell: "There's the beast! Catch it!" And suddenly a very large group of people were running towards them, pointing at Sirius. Harry recognized some of them as parents of Dudley's Gang, and knew that they were after Sirius.   
He dropped down quickly and murmured in Sirius's ear, telling him who they were and what was happening. His godfather gave him a doggy grin, and suddenly spun, snarling and growling like a mad thing.   
Up in the air hovering over the scene, Harry could not help chuckling as the group of people hurried away as fast as they could go. Sirius simply started out again, ignoring them.   
It did not matter if they went to get help, Harry and Sirius would be far away by the time they got back with any help that they could find at this time of the night.   
They moved quickly, for the most part paying little attention to one another, just enough that Harry kept Sirius in sight, and Sirius occasionally barked, the signal for Harry to come down and tell Sirius that he was still here.   
The better part of the night passed this way, but at around one in the morning, Sirius clambered up behind Harry, and they took off the invisibility cloak, which was unneeded now, as they were over a forest that was unoccupied by human beings.   
"About three hours more of flying, Harry, it's much quicker this way, and we might just be able to get there before the sun comes up," Sirius told him over the whistle of air as they hurtled through the night sky, Sirius clinging to Harry as the younger boy took the broom to the fastest speed it could do.   
Sirius didn't even try and tell him to slow down, Harry was glad that his caretaker (if you could call Sirius something like that) was just as much a kid as he was in most ways, and understood the fact that teenagers liked doing dangerous things. It's always good to have a kindred spirit.   
  
As Sirius had said, it was just before dawn when they reached Professor Lupin's hideout, which was deep in some woods, Harry realized that this must be because it had just been full moon. Sirius nodded in agreement when Harry asked if that was the case.   
They landed on the lawn in front of the building and Sirius knocked on the door. "Hang on Padfoot!" Lupin's voice rang out from inside, and a moment later the door was pulled open by a worried looking Professor Lupin.   
"Harry! Thank god, I didn't know if Sirius here had been in time, we didn't get the warning until quite late- excuse me, that was babbling. Please come inside," Harry's old teacher said.   
Harry had to smile at that. "Hello Professor Lupin," he said.   
"Remus please, Harry, I'm not your teacher any more, or failing that, at least call me Moony," the man replied absently.   
"Alright Pro-Moony," Harry said, "but if I forget at first, just remind me."   
"I'll do that, or Sirius will. He doesn't seem to like it when one of his old friends, especially one of the Marauders, has – god forbid – a respectable title," the werewolf replied.   
Harry and Sirius both laughed at that. "Now, I suppose you'll only want to stay here for most of today. I'm going to be leaving about midday, so if you like, you can go to sleep now for a while, and I'll wake you up when I'm leaving, you can fly to Diagon Alley and then take floo powder from there to the Weasley's," Remus told them.   
"Sounds good Moony, you just wake us up," Sirius said sleepily.   
"Maybe we should send an owl to the Weasley's to tell them that we're coming?" Harry suggested after a moments thought.   
"Good idea," Remus remarked. "But maybe tell them that I'll be coming, that's a normal enough thing to be happening these days, I've been there a lot. Then I'll tell them that you're coming later on."   
"Ok, will you take care of writing it then? I'm not sure that I can think of what I should write," Harry asked.   
"Of course Harry," Remus replied with a smile. "Sirius knows where to go to sleep," he added.   
Sirius and Harry went towards the back of the house where there were a few rooms that were only a little torn up by a werewolve's violent rage.   
This was apparently the best place to sleep, there was a bed in one of the rooms, which Sirius insisted Harry take, Sirius himself changed back to dog form and flopped down in front of door like a guard dog of some sort.   
Harry sighed slightly, even if they were on the run, Sirius appeared to want to take care of Harry, and so he'd have to look out for his godfather and make sure that Sirius didn't try and keep Harry sheltered by taking it on himself to do the harder things.   
  
The morning came far too quickly in Harry's opinion, Remus shook him gently awake. "Come on Harry, time to wake up now," he said softly, in a gentle but firm voice.   
Harry groaned, but stood up wearily, feeling as if every bone in his body was protesting not being able to simply rest and not do anything.   
Sirius was already awake, but hadn't stood up yet, when he saw Harry up and about, he seemed to scowl before standing also and changing form.   
Sirius, Harry now knew, was deffinately not a morning person, whether he had gotten a proper sleep or not. Not that last night's sleep could be called "proper" but anyway…   
There was a brunch on the table when they got to the kitchen, Remus aparently had some skills as a cook. And acording to him, Sirius didn't. "Do not let Sirius near the food if you have to eat it as well," he warned Harry, while Sirius glared pure murder at his only remaining loyal friend from school.   
"I won't," Harry promised, and shrank back as Sirius turned the glare on him. Suddenly Sirius seemed to register his slight fear and the glare was gone completely, replaced by a brilliant smile that made him look much younger, almost making the dead look that twelve years in Azkaban had given him disappear. Almost, but not quite.   
Harry forced himself to relax, he couldn't help it, he knew that Sirius would never hurt him, but he knew what was coming whenever his uncle got that expression on his face.   
The brunch was delicious, and Harry ate quite a bit, even though he was almost full before he'd sampled much of the array of food. Ten years of nearly starving made him able to eat very little, in fact, it would be difficult to eat a lot now, but he was sure that he would manage.   
Finally it was time to go, there was a quick goodbye, but Remus maintained that he would see them again soon, and that if they ever needed a place to stay for a while, his place was always open.   
Sirius thanked him for that, and then dragged Harry incide as Remus Apparated to the Weasley's place. "Here," Sirius said, handing Harry what looked like a bright blue lolly, he himself was holding a bright red one.   
"If you eat this and think of a different look, this will give it to you. Try and be inventive so that no one will even link you to who you really are," his godfather explained.   
Harry smiled faintly and nodded, watching as Sirius did his first. Suddenly the familiar face melted slightly, becoming narrow, black hair became shoulder length brown-blonde, grey eyes became hazel green, and he became shorter and thinner than he had been.   
Harry blinked several times, before popping the lolly in his mouth and concentrated hard. The next second Sirius gave a yelp of surprise and Harry opened his eyes, looking in the mirror, he grinned.   
He was taller than usual, his face had a more mature look, his body had filled out a little, green eyes had become light purple, black hair became brown with blonde streaks, and he had a peirced ear.   
But the lightning bolt scar on his forehead was still clearly visible, it wouldn't be if he brushed the fringe of his now longer hair down though.   
"Why didn't the scar go away?" he asked Sirius. "I concentrated particularly hard on getting rid of that."   
"Maybe it's something more than just a scar, something that shows that you defeated the dark lord once, and it won't go away no matter what. I guess we'll just have to disguise it a little," Sirius replied, frowning.   
Harry simply nodded his head, and handed his wand to his godfather. Sirius took it and tapped Harry's forhead gently. There was a slight burning sensation, but it was gone before Harry could hardly realize it was there.   
"Ok kid, how does that look?" Sirius asked, holding out a mirror. Harry looked in it and smiled faintly, the lightning bolt had been covered up by some sort of make up that faded against his skin so that he didn't notice it at all.   
There was nothing to suggest that any scar had been there, and Harry was relieved, if anything could give him away, it was that.   
"Perfect," Sirius stated with a proud smile. "Let's get going then, you know about floo powder of course?"   
"Yeah, I know it," Harry agreed. "By the way, do we just use our normal names? Just in all of the movies I saw, the people always changed their names."   
"I hadn't thought of that. Ok, I'm Peter, your James, sound good?" Sirius asked.   
"Sounds fine Peter," Harry replied with the slightest emphisis on Sirius's new name. Sirius grinned.   
"You'll do good at this kid, mark my words. I won't forget and get your name wrong, you remind me of James enough, that's for sure," he said.   
Harry smiled and took a handful of floo powder, throwing it over the flames which instantly turned green. He stepped into them and spoke clearly, "Diagon Alley!"   
A few moments of dizzying spinning, he was there, and moments after that, Sirius arrived on the scene.   
"Now James, come on, the entrace is this way," Sirius said calmly, playing as if they had never been there before, or at least that Harry hadn't.   
Harry followed him quickly out of the room, though the people inside scarcely glanced in their direction, it felt to him as if they were all staring at him and muttering amung themselves, pointing and ready to call the Aurors in a second.   
Sirius went straight to Olivanders Wand Shop, but sent Harry to the book shop instead, telling him to find some books that looked interesting, and if he could find any that he would be needing during the year at Hogwarts.   
Harry walked inside glancing around. He'd always wanted to buy some of the books here, giant leather and metal bound books full of curses and all sorts of interesting things, but not right now.   
He strode over to the counter and the man behind it leaned forward slightly. "Can I help you?" the other man asked, voice quiet so as not to disturb anyone who was brousing thorugh the shop.   
Harry spoke in a voice just as quiet. "I'm looking for the books that Hogwarts will be needing this year, fifth year mainly," he told him.   
"Are you a student?" The man asked, the question was not out of place, but to Harry it seemed as though the man was deliberately trying to trick him into answering in some particular fashion, maybe to admit that he was Harry Potter or something.   
None of his doubts showed on his face as he answered. "No, I've been homeschooled, but I wanted to see what Hogwarts will be doing through the year, I haven't really thought about it before, but my parents were always going on about how great Hogwarts was."   
"Well, we don't have all of the books yet, but we do have some, if you would just come and take a look, I'll show you," the man offered.   
Harry accepted the offer and walked behind the man as they wandered around the shelves, the man picking up this book or that one and explaining what it was and who would be using it this year and a heap of other stuff.   
Harry made comments that he didn't really think of, his eyes were on the bigger books again, and one of them seemed to be calling to him, a large book with a gold cloth cover.   
"Excuse me, but what's that book?" Harry asked, pointing it out to the other man. "The gold one?"   
"That? It's a book on Elementals, I believe. Yes, a very interesting read, I've been told, though I haven't read it myself," the man told him. Harry added it to the pile that was growing quite fast.   
Suddenly there was a crash on the other side of the store and the assisstant hurried over to see if anyone had been hurt and what the commotion was about.   
Harry was about to come out of the shelves when he saw a face that he had hoped not to see again now that he was on the run. Completely forgetting that he was disguised he ducked backwards again, just before Draco Malfoy's eyes swept the place where he had been.   
Had the other boy seen him? Harry felt slightly panicked, and jumped at a touch on his shoulder.   
  
***************************************************************   
  
So, I've got a cliffie. First one from this story. Who was it that touched Harry's shoulder? Review so that I'll update and you can find out!

Thanks to:

Queen of the Jungle, Hermione-potter, Zeva Blackrose, kateydidnt, Lady Foxfire, spacecatdet, Katy999, BlackDragon, Arkayas, The Red Dragons Order, valeries26's 16 reviews, bob, bob, Songbreeze Swifteye, Heather, brion, Maxx77, ER, fanfiction reader, Clare, Anaxandra, Rachel A. Prongs, wquad, Clare, Queen of Redwall, and Pringle.

 All in all, your reviews added up to 41 in total, and I feel somewhat overwhelmed by your support of me! With fans like you, there is no fear of me not updating this story regularly!

If you wish to receive an update email every time I add a new chapter, I'll send one, and if you wish to be removed from the list, just request in a review or send me an email. If you are going to send me an email, and _haven't received one from me in the past, it is likely that you are not on my contact list. If this is so, your email will go to the junk mail folder. I do look over it, but not so closely that I will recognize friend from foe (to use such terms), so please have the subject something like 'fanfiction' or 'about your stories' or something along those lines. Thanks,_

~WolfMoon~


	3. Chapter Two

AN: Thanks to my wonderful beta-reader, Queen of the Jungle!

Chapter Three:

"Kid, it's just me, what's got you jumpy?" Harry sagged in relief, it was only Sirius. 

 "I saw Draco Malfoy," he explained softly. "I wonder if he saw me?"  
 "If he did, it doesn't matter, James," Sirius put a slight emphasis on the name to remined Harry that he was wearing a disguise and no one would recognize him now.

 Harry smiled up at his godfather and turned down the lane towards where he had put his books. Sirius looked over them and nodded. "Good choices these. Now, we'll get some of the more advanced books so I can refresh my memories," he said.

 Harry smiled and nodded, then Sirius caught sight of the gold book. "Elementals? That's a rare book, good thing you picked it up, there's only one copy made every two years, very difficult to get hold of, the Hogwarts library doesn't even have a copy," he remarked.

 An hour or so later they left Diagon Alley with various supplies. Harry was wondering if he could manage to shrink so many things when Sirius pulled out a wand of his own.

 "I got the wand that I wanted, Mr. Olivander was a little suspicious, he didn't want to know names, I think Dumbledore might have said something about me coming, but he was clearly interested in something," Sirius said.

 Harry nodded, watching as Sirius swished the wand and suddenly everything had shrunk down to a managable size, except for the packet of floo powder which they would use to get to the Weasley's place.

 Not long after that they arrived at the Weasley's, shrunken items in pockets, Ron and Hermione were both there, sitting in front of the fireplace, watching it intently. 

 The moment Harry appeared, they were beside him, Hermione hugged him tightly and Ron patted him awkwardly on the back, both saying how sorry they were that he had been accused of Cedric Diggory's death.

 He guessed thar Remus must have mentioned that they'd come in disguise, and that this was what his one was.

 The next second Sirius stepped out of the fire, he was still in his diguise as well, but Ron and Hermione greeted him with his real name. "Call me Peter, and Harry is James for the moment, just in case anyone comes in, otherwise we'd take off the disguises, but of course, we can't do that," Sirius told them.

 "Right, Peter it is then, and James," Ron said. "Come in to the kitchen, mum's just making afternoon tea in hopes that you'd arrive in time to eat it with us."  
 Harry and Sirius followed Ron and Hermione into the kitchen, where they were welcomed all over again by Mrs. Weasley, who then started yelling for the rest of the family to come down and say hello to the guests.

 She gave them the names that they had given Ron and Hermione, but everyone knew who she really meant, they'd been told about Sirius being innocent by their father, it seemed. Fred and George came tearing down the stairs at breakneck pace, skidding to a halt in front of Harry and greeting him with pompous immitations of Percy, who came in just in time to hear them.

 "Really you two, can't you think of anything better to do?" He demanded coldly.

 "No Weatherby," they both replied as one. It seemed that Barty Crouch's name for their brother had stuck. Harry could almost pity Percy, having to live in the same house as them.

 Once everyone had come downstairs and sat down, the real coversation began. Fred and George, who Harry thought had swapped places, were planning pranks for the year in subdued voices so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear them.

 Sirius, sitting next to them, did hear, but far from reporting them to their mother, he leaned closer to give his own ideas. Harry, on the other side of the table, was surprised that he could hear what they were saying, Sirius was telling them about a prank he played on Snape when he was at school, but no one else seemed able to hear them.

 Shaking it off and ignoring them, he turned to Ron and Hermione. "So why are you here, Hermione?" He asked her.

 Hermione smiled slightly. "It's my parents twentith aniversary, and they went on a cruise, so I came here, and I'll be staying until we go to Hogwarts," she told him.

 Harry nodded. "Si-Peter will be homeschooling me," he said with a sigh. "I wish I could come to Hogwarts this year, but oh well, it'll be fun with Peter."

 When they had finished the delicious afternoon tea, Harry, Ron and Hermione retired to Ron's room, and Harry told them _exactly_ what had happened when he and Cedric were whisked away from the Third Task.

 By the end of it, Ron and Hermione were gaping at him, he guessed that it must have been quite a story to hear for the first time. He himself had gone over it so many times in his thoughts and his dreams that he felt almost apart from the boy who had gone through that. There was still a dull ache in his chest every time he mentioned Cedric Diggory's name.

 A little while later, once Harry, Ron and Hermione had come back down, they and the Twins headed out of the house to play Quidditch, Harry unshrinking his Firebolt, to the amazement of everyone else, since they couldn't do magic outside of school.

 He shrugged it off saying that Peter had found a way to get rid of the charm, but firmly telling the Twins that he didn't know how to do it himself, which dissapointed them a little, but that was healed up when he offered them a go on the Firebolt.

 All in all, he had a very good day, and enjoyed himself immensly, the knowledge that he would not get to be so carefree and happy for a long time to come served to make it even better. 

 Finally, however, they had to go, Sirius wanted to go back to Remus's place and set out from there, it took them far away from anyone. But Harry had the same feeling that he had when the Aurors came.

 "Sirius, there's danger at Remus's place, its that same feeling, like at the abandoned house in Surrey," he said, touching Sirius's shoulder lightly.

 Sirius frowned slightly. "Well, if that's the case, we'd better think of something else. Portkey I suppose, and wear the invisibility cloak," he said, taking out his wand. 

 He took a stone from a pocket and touched it with his wand, muttering something that Harry didn't quiet hear, and then held it out Harry.

 They had already said goodbye to the Weasley's and had insisted that the family should go and eat the dinner that Mrs. Weasley had made – Sirius had refused the offer of staying longer and eating.

 So Harry took the invisibility cloak out and threw it over them, before touching the stone that Sirius held out to him. A second later there was a tug behind his naval and the world was spinning away, before slamming back down into the ground.

 Somehow he managed to stay upright, gripping Sirius's arm tightly, the Invisibility cloak still covered them, he was glad to realize.

 They edge closer the house, having appeared in a clearing nearby in the forest. They came out into the open area around the house, and both of them barely stifled a gasp.

 The clearing was lit not with the light of the moon but with that of a shining green figure in the sky – the Dark Mark, Lord Voldemort's symbol.

 There were still noises coming from inside, and Sirius dragged Harry back into the forest. "Come on kid, we'll get going, and head for Remus's other place, I think," he said.

 Harry simply nodded and they slipped away, Harry mounted his broom, removing the cloak for a moment so that he could get settled, and then swirled it around his shoulders, and took off.

 He kept a sharp eye on the black dog below that flitted from shadow to shadow. For a moment Harry paused and looked back towards the Dark Mark that hovered in the air over Remus Lupin's house.

 Had the Death Eaters come because of him? He had no doubt that they had, Voldemort wanted him dead, or in Azkaban so that he would be under Voldemort's control once the Dark Lord got the support of the Dementors.

 He shivered slightly. He would have to convince Sirius not to stay at the house of someone it was known that they were friends with – the Death Eaters must know that he was with Sirius, after all, who else would Dumbledore put in charge of him?

 He darted away and did not look behind him again, he did not want to see the sick green skull in the air above a place that had nearly become his and Sirius's grave.

 All through the night they travelled, putting as much distance between them and the house as possible. Harry started flying low, for the moon had yet to rise and there was little light.

 To his surprise, this didn't make him have difficulty seeing, in fact, he seemed to be able to see things sharper in the night, clearer, though he could see no colours.

 After a while he took of his glasses to clean them and see if the blurred edges and visions that slipped away were because of them. He kept his eyes open to try and focus on the t-shirt that he was using to clean them with, and nearly fell off his broom in surprise.

 Everything was even clearer without the glasses on than it had been before. He picked Sirius's form with ease, despite the deep shadows that hid the dog, and the smallest bit of light seemed the equivilant of a lamp.

 He was going to say something about this to Sirius, but decided to wait until they stopped, since it would inevitably lead to questions that had no answers that would be going around both of their heads when they should be either trying to get some sleep, or keeping moving onwards.

 Suddenly the woods ended, replaced by a landscape of low rolling hills, the just rising moon glowing faintly and illuminating the land. Harry could see even better than he had been able to before, as he landed beside Sirius in the shadows that bordered the moores.

 "Kid, why aren't you wearing your glasses?" Sirius asked him in surprise once he could make out Harry's face in the darkness. 

 And so the story of what had happened on the way from Remus's house came out. Sirius's mouth fell open wider with every word, until he looked just like a fish out of water as he attempted to speak.

 Suddenly a voice spoke from the area behind them, making them both jump.

 "I thought that you must be the ones, I've been watching you for several days, ever since Mr. Potter was forced to flee his relatives in fear of his life," it seemed male to Harry, and wise, but at the same time silky and dangerous.

 "Who are you?" he demanded, spinning around, his suddenly sharp eyes picking out the figure of a man in the darkness. "Why are you here, and why are you watching me?"

 "So many questions, but I cannot answer them here. Perhaps if you would come with me, I could tell you?" it was half a question, but more of a statement.

 Harry frowned. "Do you think we are stupid? Where will you take us?" He asked in return.

 "To a school for spies, assassins and warriors, though I can tell you nothing more of it outside of its walls. Both you and Sirius Black are welcome there, we will not turn you away as the Ministry of Magic – incompetent fools – have done."

 Sirius immediately looked to Harry, maybe the boy could tell something using the odd powers that he seemed to have developed. Harry looked at the man, and he felt trust and friendship. 

 He blinked once, and then looked at Sirius and nodded his head once. Sirius sighed. "Alright, we'll come with you, but if you try and hurt the kid, I'll kill you," he told the man, who simply nodded and suddenly the darkness behind him that to Harry seemed almost alive, began swirling till it had created a void of swirling darkness.

 The man simply strode towards it and dissapeared inside. Harry frowned, he was _sure_ he felt something when the void had appeared, but … well, he'd ask the man when he got the chance.

 Together with Sirius, Harry walked into the void, feeling something swirling around him, though he didn't quite understand what, it wasn't a physical feeling, like the wind, so what was it? He'd have to ask the man that was well, it seemed.

 Suddenly Harry heard a gasp, and wondered who it was for a second, before he realized it was himself. Sirius beside him appeared just as surprised. They were standing on the grounds of a castle that appeared to be made out of a mountainside, part of it was shaped from the strong black rock that made the mountain, jutting out and around, but it obviously went deep inside it as well.

 To one side was a thick mass of trees, shrubs and vines that was completely out of control, and he could hear the sound of running water within it.

 Turning his attention back to the castle, he realized that it was a _lot_ bigger than Hogwarts, if the inside of the mountain went by the same scale as the outer. 

 The odd man who they had followed here smiled at them, even though some sort of spell made darkness hide his features from view, they could see, for a moment, lips that quirked upwards slightly, before he moved a little, and shadows covered it again.

 "Come with me please, we will go to my office, and talk there, where none of the students can overhear. They will try of course, I would be very dissapointed if they didn't," Harry didn't get a word of what the man had said. He _wanted_ the students to spy on him? Sirius, on the other hand, was looking curiously at the back of the man, as if wondering if he had been handed the answer to a question.

 Harry shrugged inwardly and followed the man, who strode ahead, sometimes looking towards a place and laughing softly, as if something he saw amused him. Harry saw nothing, though he looked carefully where the other man did, as did Sirius.

 The hallways were as difficult – if not more so – than Hogwarts to navigate, Harry had never thought that he would think that about any place, but this just proved that everything was possible.

 Finally they reached what must have been the man's office, because he entered, took out a wand and muttered something, instantly a man, who looked about nineteen, appeared in the back of the office. "Out," the man told the him.

 The other simply nodded and was gone. 

 "Please, be seated. You may call me Shadow Master. As you, Mr. Black, may have guessed, this is the Seekers Acadamy. Don't ask me why it's called that, I have no idea, it was lost in the mists of time, since the Acadamy has been around for … hmm … at least ten thousand years I'd guess."

 Harry had absolutely no idea what the man was talking about, until he suddenly remembered a few moments from a History of Magic lesson, he'd woken up for a moment and then fallen asleep again, as far as he could recall.

 _"The Seekers Acadamy is supposedly a school that teaches people to become fighters, whether in magic or other means. As far as the world knows it is a myth. They supposedly teach such things as assassination and the arts of spying…"_

 After that Binn's must have gone on to something far more boring than fighters and assassins, since Harry was sure he'd fallen asleep.

 Shadow Master smiled at Harry. "I see you know something of the Acadamy, no doubt that it is a myth that you shouldn't pay any attention to. We've gone to great lenghts to keep out of sight from both the magical and Muggle worlds, with a great deal of success. We need to keep hidden, since we've killed enough people from the upper levels of power over the years, for varying reasons," he said.

 Harry only just managed not to gape. These people had killed people like the Minister of Magic? Or the Muggle prime minister? It was somewhat hard to believe that anyone would place themselves at so much risk, but he supposed that to some the risk was worth the gain.

 "So why did you bring us here?" Sirius demanded. "As far as I'm aware, you only accept people who come to you, and only those who are deffinately not going to betray the Acadamy, and who really want to be spies or assassins, can find this place."  
 "Normally that would be the case, yes, but young Mr. Potter has a talent for these arts, and he will not be able to learn them to their full extent anywhere else," Shadow Master informed Sirius calmly. Why was the man always so calm?

 "And why would I allow my godson to learn spying and assassination?" Sirius snarled immediately, made angry by the very suggestion of it.

 Harry touched his godfathers arm gently. "I believe that's my choice, Sirius, let's listen to what Shadow Master has to say," he told him. 

 Sirius blinked in surprise, surprise at what, exactly, Harry wasn't sure.

 "Thank you, Mr. Potter. Assassination is not all that we teach here, we can teach you to work with swords, archery, unarmed combat, daggers, knife throwing, and any other weapon you can think of. We can teach you to duel, the dark arts as well as their defence, but I believe that there is something that you alone can learn. I will go into that later, when I am sure of it. The decision is yours, Mr. Potter, learn or leave," Shadow Master told him.

 Harry glanced at his godfather, and before the thought had even occurred to him, Shadow Master spoke again. "And your godfather is welcome to study here as well, I understand that you, Mr. Black, were reknown for your love of sneaking around, and getting in trouble. Perhaps you would find it to your advantage if you learned some of our non magic combat modes."

 Sirius stiffened slightly. "That depends on Harry's decision," he replied warily. Harry sighed to himself, slightly.

 "I think that I'll accept, but I want to know first, can I send letters to friends?" Harry said cautiously. Sirius smiled approvingly at him.

 "You will be able to, so long as you do not mention your own real name, and so long as the letters do not touch this place in any form," Shadow Master replied calmly.

 Harry thought for a moment. "I accept then. What do I have to do now?" he said.

 Shadow Master laughed. "For now, you will be taken to a room, your godfather may of course remain near by. Wolf!" The next second a man, about thirty Harry thought, appeared in the doorway. 

 "Shadow Master," he said formally, bowing slightly, he motioned for Sirius and Harry to follow him, and backed out with another bow. 

 Harry and Sirius followed, neither bowed, and Harry was sure that the man, Wolf, Shadow Master had called him, frowned slightly in a disaproving way, though he said nothing.

 Wolf led them through corridors that stretched deep into the moutainside. There were occasionally sounds of battle, and once they saw what looked unpleasantly like a spash of blood on the wall, being cleaned by a house-elf.

 Finally they entered a section of the place in which doors led off the corridor on either side, and it was at two of these doors that Wolf stopped.

 "If you have any questions, please ask them now," he stated coolly. Neither Harry nor Sirius said anything. After a moment he nodded. "Very well. Death here is a daily reality. If you do not kill yourself by accident with a weapon, you might be killed in a duel or brawl. These are encouraged most of the time. You have only just arrived, none of your clothes have any pins or colours of any sort, this means that you are new and no one will try to kill you for an offense that you were not aware of the rules. When you have progressed enough that you know the rules and are a decent hand with a weapon of some description, you will be given various levels of colours and pins, however many your teachers decide that you deserve, or the Shadow Master does. You will be instructed further in that later, by someone who is more accustomed to teaching. You will be shown the way around this place in the near future, when it becomes necessary for you to be go somewhere. Perhaps we will meet again sometime, if we are still alive," with this somewhat unpleasant farewell, Wolf was gone.

 "I don't like him," Sirius muttered coldly.

 "I don't think we are supposed to," Harry replied, but his tone was just as cold. Wolf reminded him of Draco Malfoy, someone he would rather not remember if at all possible. 

 He opened one of the doors, and Sirius the other, walking into rooms that were exact copies of each other.

 He walked inside taking out the things from various pockets where he had shrunk it. He unshrunk them all and set the things up, noticing that there were clothes, like a uniform of sorts, his where all white, and had no mark at all.

 He put his things away, someday he'd need them again, he wasn't planning on hiding from the wizarding world forever, and maybe Fudge would die sometime in an attack, and the next Minister would be in favour of him coming back. 

 He fell onto the double bed wearily, it was morning and he'd been moving more than half of the night, he was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

 He had an odd dream, many people in cloaks and hoods, not Death Eaters, the feeling coming from them was not one of sadness and pain, but one of happiness, friendship and familiarity.

 They said nothing, forming a circle with him seated on … something … in the centre of it. All through his sleep no nightmare came his way, and many pleasant dreams. 

 When he woke it was to another white robed figure shaking him gently. "Wake you, it's time to go to lessons," the woman told him. Harry's eyes flickered open and he frowned slightly, what was a woman doing here?

 Then he pushed himself up a little, till he was propped up on his elbows. "Would you mind leaving while I dress?" he asked her politely, and she blushed, and hurried out, presumably to wake Sirius. He wished her luck.

 Harry got out and walked over to the wardrobe, taking out a set of the plain white practice clothes and dressing himself quickly, he walked into the hallway, just as the woman came out of the other door.

 "I'm Sparrow," she told him calmly. "I'll be taking you to your first class, and your sleepy friend to his."

 "Won't they be the same?" Harry asked her, slightly confused.

 "No, what you will learn differs because of his experience in the world, and do not tell me your name or his, no one here has names until they choose one to be known by. Usually people choose the name of their animagus form," she replied, and Sirius came out dressed in the white robes in time to hear the last.

 "You can call me Padfoot then," he remarked. "So, what's the first class?"

 "You'll find out when you get there, now please follow me," Sparrow replied, heading off down the corridors. Harry and Sirius jogged to keep up with her, she was a fast walker, and probably wanted to get to her own classes.

 Harry's class was the first they came to, a room much like the Hogwarts classrooms, he was about to ask Sparrow a question, but she was already gone, Sirius at her heels, so he walked inside.

 There was a man, medium age, Harry supposed, sitting perched on a stool behind the front desk. He gestured for Harry to come in. "It's been a while since I had a pupil, most of the people who come here either don't have the ability, or already have their animagus forms," he remarked.

 He was going to learn how to be an animagus? Harry thought, surprised and happy at once. "Isn't that against the law?" he asked with a slight frown. 

 "Of course it is, that's why we teach it," the man replied in a kindly tone. "I'm Tiger, by the way," Harry nodded. "And you aren't going to tell me your name because you don't have an animagus form!" He added in extremely cheerful tones.

 Harry merely nodded again. "You can call me James, if you like," he said after a moments thought. "Me and Padfoot have used it before when we don't want people to know who we really are."

 Tiger looked at him and nodded his head after a moments thought, looking at Harry as if wandering if this was his real name and no doubt another hundred questions that Harry would never have thought of.

 "Very well, James, let us work on an animagus form for you so that others may call you something – tell no one else that you have allowed me to use this name, because the more who know of it, the more chance that they will work out the code that you used to think up the name and therefore expose your real one," Tiger told him.

 Harry nodded coolly, this logic was reasonable since his father had been called James so there was something to tie him to this name that he had chosen.

 Tiger settled behind his desk, and Harry took the seat in front of it. They started with a review of what Harry had learnt of animagi in Hogwarts, and Tiger seemed a little surprised at how much he didn't know, but they both decided that you were taught more and better should you choose advanced Transfiguration when you finished the O.W.L's.

 It took a pitifully short time to get through that, and once they had done that, Tiger sighed. "You have a lot to learn, and until you have learned this, you will have no other lessons. Every morning you will come here to me, while Padfoot goes to various lessons. Every night you will return to your rooms and sleep, before coming here again when morning comes around. Let's get started."

 Harry sat attentatively listening to the words that Tiger spoke, slotting them away in his mind to remember, once the man had finished the basic rules of the transformation, he had Harry recite them back, word for word.

 Harry didn't quite fulfill the last requirement, though he had the whole lecture summed up, but this was not good enough for Tiger, who insisted on repeating every word of the lecture until Harry had it word perfect.

 It took them four times to get that far, but Tiger assured him that this was good for a child and someone who was not used to the standards of work that were used here.

 Then it was time to learn the basic way of performing the transformation, which was apparently to let go of his mind and embrace whatever shape it was that would become his animagus form. Apparently he wouldn't know what this was until he had begun the spell, and once started, the spell was irraversable, unless it didn't work, an outcome which had an eighty percent chance of unfolding.

 The first transformation was painful, Tiger said, and slow, but after that there would be no pain, and as he transformed more often, he would become faster and faster, until he no longer even had to think about it, and the transformation occurred with the speed of an eyeblink.

 "You will not transform until you have learnt all of the theory behind this, and then not without me being there to oversee you," Tiger added. "If you do, the consequences will be decidedly unpleasant."

 Harry did not ask what those consiquence might be, the man looked perfecly capable of killing someone, for all he appeared quite a nice person otherwise.

 That night Harry followed Sparrow back to his rooms with Sirius, who came into Harry's room with him, feeling completely exhausted. They talked for a while of what each had done through the day, before Sirius returned to his own room and Harry collapsed on his bed in complete exhaustion.

 It seemed he'd hardly closed his eyes when he was woken again by Sparrow in the early morning. "Tiger wants you to come early today," she told him, stepping back out of the room to allow him to change into his clothes.

 This set the pattern for the next week, which he spent learning all about the art of animagi with Tiger, Sirius helped a little in the half an hour that they spent together each night, before they were both too worn out to say any more.

 But a week later there was a change. A very big one at that. Tiger decided that Harry had learnt enough and they would be performing animagus spell the next day.

 Harry was given the day off to prepare, and Sirius was also granted the day off at Harry's request so that they could spend some time together, something that otherwise never happened.

 Sirius and he spent the day happily, talking of things that happened before they had come to the Seekers Acadamy.

 "So what can you tell me about my parents years at school?" Harry asked curiously.

 Sirius's eyes misted over suddenly. "I know what I can tell you about! Graduation day! God that was funny!"

 "What was?" Harry demanded impatiently. "Come on, tell me!"

 "Well, what happened was this …"

 _James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, known as the Marauders by the Hogwarts population, woke one brilliant summers morning with the knowledge that they would soon be out of Hogwarts for good._

_ "No more pranks," Sirius whined._

_ "Oh stop whinging Sirius! Today's prank will be brilliant!" It was a month before the end of the school year, but the seventh years would sit the N.E.W.T.'s in Hogwarts, even though the tests were not actually part of their school year and did not contribute to whether or not they graduated._

_ The Marauders, well known for their pranks and jokes, had decided that since they had to go out, they would go out with a bang!_

_ The day progressed and the four finished all of the necessary preparations for their plans before the Graduation Ceremony was held. The Seventh Years gathered in the Great Hall with the whole school watching them as they moved onwards in their lives and left the school. _

_ The ceremony went without hitch, Minerva McGonagall, who had become the head of Gryffindor House three years before, was watching the Marauders with a hard stare, as if making sure that they didn't try anything._

_ That is, it went well until Severus Snape, the main enemy and target of the Marauders turn came around._

_ "Severus Snape," Dumbledore intoned gravely and the Slytherin prefect walked at a dignified pace, looking as though he had put fresh slime in his hair just that morning, ignoring the titterings of the Gryffindor students, who all hated him with a passion. He was halfway through his journey to the front of the hall and all eyes were on the Marauders, who were glaring daggers at the boy, but making no move to do anything._

_ But then, they didn't have to, they didn't want to get in trouble on their last day of school, and therefore had planned a trigger for the prank that they had laid. Certainly they often did this anyway, but usually they got caught with the trigger before they could get rid of it. This time it would self-destruct the moment after it activated._

_ And to make it even better, Lily was the one who would be activating it. She hated Snape with as much passion  as the Marauders did, and had been possitively thrilled at the idea that her boyfriend and his friends had come up with, and was only to happy to help them with it and keep them from getting in trouble._

_ She had a small golden ring on her finger, and when the Marauders all looked up at her and nodded slightly, she turned it three times to the left and then one to the right._

_ Immediately there was a flash of light and Severus Snape was dressed in a Muggle ballgown with high heeled shoes (made of glass) his hair had been put up in a fancy style and his face was completely covered in far to much Muggle make-up._

_ At the same time a concealed camera took a picture that no one but the Marauders and Lily knew about as yet, and then there was another flash, and suddenly Severus Snape the fluro green, orange and pink chicken was running around in circles squarking angrilly._

_ Another picture was taken by the hidden camera._

_ It went on like this with Snape becoming a rather large list of various forms: a green pig, complete with a pool of mud, a fluro orange mouse running from a cat done in Gryffindor colours, back to the chicken and then to the ballgown once more, though still covered in mud from the pig incident._

_ The entire hall had erupted in laughter long since, and the teachers were all looking absolutely furious. "If I find the one that did this they will not be allowed to sit their N.E.W.T.'s if they are Graduating today, and will instead repeat the last two years of school! Along with serving a detention every night! If it was someone from another year, they will be placed on suspension for an indeffinate ammount of time!" McGonagall shrieked furiously._

_ Snape had fled the hall in disgrace._

_ A week later, when the teachers finally admitted defeat, after it being proved that the Marauders had had nothing to do with setting off the prank, though it wasn't sure whether or not they had created it in the first place, the students found a spell set up in the Great Hall that asked for a sickle in return for a badge that had a moving picture of Snape in a ballgown on it._

_ Once you paid the money, the badge appeared in your hand, but it wouldn't if you did not first pay the correct money. The students who bought them (everyone except the Slytherins) soon found that the pictures changed in sequence to show every one of Snape's humiliations. _

 "That," Sirius finished, "was the best week of my life! We made a lot of money from those things to!"

 Harry laughed in delight at the story. "I want one of those badges!" He remarked.

 "Well, I think that we left the remnants of the batch with Remus, so when we leave here, we can always ask him for one," Sirius suggested with a faint smile.

 Harry laughed again. "Well, I'd better get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a very busy day," he remarked.

********************************************************

Wonder what Harry's animagus form will be … I know what it is! but I'm not going to tell you! Hehe, like Katy999 guessed, it was Sirius! Well done Katy!

Rachel A. Prongs, BlackDragon, Anaxandra, wquad, Songbreeze Swifteye, Heather, Heather, brion, kitty, Clare, Katy999, PR LUCKEN, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Professor Authordude, Maxx77, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, maria, ettedanreb(Hermione Potter and Old Fawkes!

~WolfMoon~


	4. Chapter Three

As usual – thanks to my beta-reader, Queen of the Jungle

Chapter Four:

 Ron and Hermione were sitting at the kitchen table when an odd owl that they had never seen before flew in the window. Mrs. Weasley watched it with a wary look in her eyes as she called Arthur to come and look at the letter it had brought.

 The bird dropped it on the table but made no move to take off; it was waiting for a reply. Arthur Weasley hurried into the kitchen taking out his wand to scan the letter for any curses, to find out it was a Portkey or a number of other things.

 After ten minutes he pronounced it safe and picked it up. "It's for you and Hermione, Ron," he said, handing it to them. The writing on the front of the letter was unfamiliar, but they opened it quickly anyway.

 _Ron, Hermione,_

_ It's James, and Peter too, but he isn't here right now. I just thought I'd better send a note to tell you that I'm all right. You'd have heard about Moony's house, I suppose, tell him me'n'Peter'll help pay for him to rebuild it if he needs it._

_ If you see him sometime soon, ask him about their Graduation Day, and tell him I want one of the badges – you'll understand that once you hear the story behind it._

_ I can't tell you where I am right now, but be assured I am safe and well, and enjoying myself, although this place can be scary sometimes … it's even bigger than Hogwarts, and, I know it sounds impossible, but it's even harder to find your away around this place!_

_ I'll tell you more the next time I see you, which won't be for quite a long time yet, since you'll be going to Hogwarts, and I don't think that I'll be going anywhere near there in a hurry!_

_ Well, I hope you're both well, this owl will bring letters and parcels to me, if you want to send them, but do not try a tracking spell, it will kill the bird, and I don't want to do that, but the security here is a little … shall we say, fanatical._

_ I have to go now, I'm always busy these days, its even worse than all that homework you guys have to do for Hogwarts, from what you showed me!_

_ Hopefully I'll hear from you soon,_

_James._

_  
_

 "It's from James!" Ron and Hermione yelled at the same time after reading it, and instantly the entire household was clamoring to know what it said.

 Hermione read it out in a clear voice, and they settled down to trying to work out what it meant, and where Harry was, though he gave few clues, and no way to tie them together and form a proper answer.

 "Well, the only thing that you can do is write back, I suppose,' Mrs. Weasley said."I'll bake him a cake, it's his birthday soon! And now you can send those presents you found for him," she added to Ron and Hermione, who brightened up considerably.

 The family dispersed again, now that the happiness of hearing from Harry had faded slightly, Fred and George headed to their own rooms to go back to their experiments, Ginny wandered listlessly up to her own room to most likely do homework, and Arthur headed for the fire to Floo to the Ministry.

 Molly Weasley bustled into the kitchen to start on the birthday cake that she had decided to bake for Harry, and Ron and Hermione headed up to Ron's room to gather the things that they had bought for Harry.

 Far away the person on all of their minds was just being awoken by Sparrow, who, as usual, left the room the moment that she knew he was awake, to wait for him to dress and meet her in the hall.

 Sirius would not be woken for some time yet, but Harry spent more of his time on lessons than his godfather did, and today would be a long day on all accounts. 

 The only thing that kept Harry going was the fact that if he could succeed today then he would be able to learn other things, and relax slightly until he learned the Academy's Laws.

 Sirius had told him that he could not explain the laws of the Academy, because a person had to learn them from the teachers, but had told Harry that he would learn quickly and well when the time came for it.

 Shaking his head slightly, Harry stood up and got dressed quickly. He was just trying to put this off. When he had first been told that he would become an animagus, he'd been thrilled, but now he knew the dangers, and his main concern was coming out of Tiger's classroom tonight alive … and sane.

 With a sigh he pushed the door open and walked out, Sparrow fell in step with him to keep an eye on the changing corridors, but Harry pretty much knew his way to Tiger's rooms by now.

 All too soon, in Harry's opinion they reached their destination and Sparrow was gone. He didn't know what she did with her time after waking him and Sirius in the morning and taking them back in the evenings… stop trying to put this off, he told himself firmly, striding forward he pushed the door open resolutely and walked inside.

 Tiger sat at his desk, watching Harry carefully as the boy walked inside. "James, it's good to see that you came," he remarked, deep voice calm and steady. Harry felt the tension falling away from him and smiled faintly.

 Tiger had something that made Harry trust him, he wasn't sure if it was like he felt with the Death Eaters, or the way that he had felt that he could trust the Shadow Master to an extent.

 Tiger's voice inspired trust as well, which seemed odd in a man who had apparently come here for dealing on the black market with magical artifacts like brooms that had been stolen in the first place. Well, a voice that made you trust a person was a good thing for a thief, if not for the people he robbed.

 "Why would I not come?" was all he said in reply to Tiger's statement. "I wish to remain here and learn what I can, and if I fail or refuse to take part in this lesson then I will not get the chance to learn any others, and will be told to go away from here."

 Tiger smiled faintly, grimly. Tiger was a deadly person, for all his apparent affection for Harry. Affection could turn to dislike, or even hate, in the blink of an eye for a person who studied here.

 "Good. Come with me, we will go to rooms that are warded so that you cannot hurt yourself with the amount of magic that will be spilled out of your mind from the uncontrolled part of the spell that chooses the animal you will become. I will oversee the operation and make sure that nothing too bad happens, if I can. Come along now!"  
 Tiger headed out of the rooms that were among the only four he had seen in the entire castle. The others being his, Sirius's and the chambers that the Shadow Master had first taken them too.

 Now it seemed that he would find yet another of the castle rooms, though it turned out that these were not far from Tiger's, and appeared to be a large room with no furnishings whatsoever.

 Tiger motioned Harry inside and closed the door behind them. "You know what to do, James," Tiger stated calmly, turning to walk into a passageway in the wall, which he opened by pressing his palm on a particular stone, even with the enormity of the task ahead, Harry automatically marked the stone that had been touched even as he walked to the centre of the room.

 There he sat down, cross-legged, resting his hands on his thighs and closing his eyes. There was no sound in his ears save for his own breathing, no disturbance in the air around him.

 _Inward,_ he told himself, focus on the mind, and forget about his body, he did not have a body, the mind was all.

 It took him quite some time to reach that state, but once he had, he felt completely at peace, he was on the inside of his mind, as if encased in clear cool glass, looking out he saw through someone else's eyes. He did not move, but instead let his thoughts go even as that other person spoke words that he did not hear in the roaring of his mind as magic ran wild around his skull. Encased in glass, he did not feel it personally, but it was as though a high wind rushed around his mind, dimly he heard a voice scream in pain, he did not realize that it was himself.

 A wind seemed to ripple over his body, at first just a breeze, but it did not take long for that breeze to become a cyclone, shoving things into positions that were impossible for a human body to accomplish.

 It was then that he realized that it was because his body was no longer that of a human. For a moment he remained in his glass enclosure, before it suddenly collapsed.

 He did not remember his human form, he stretched, feeling muscles ripple beneath fur, claws extended almost a foot, pure silver and gleaming in the room that had once – he vaguely recalled – been dim, now it was alive with colours and scents, and sounds. The slight creak of age old stone moving slowly, oh so slowly over the eons that it had existed, the smell of every person who had been there in the last decade or so, some smells fresh and others so faint that it was all but impossible to pick them out, and was impossible to distinguish them as anything other people, they lacked a defining tint that would allow him to recognize them if he ever smelled them again.

 Then something else changed, as wings sprouted from his shoulder blades, he swept them open, admiring these snowy feathers that seemed to glow with a pale moony light.

 Retracting his claws the giant Black Panther prowled across the room, smells overwhelming its nose, until it came across one that was familiar, but how? Who was it?

 And then an internal battle began, between something that was hiding beneath the panther's awareness and the panthers mind and instincts. It was the hidden being that won, and abruptly there was soft pop and Harry Potter, a human being knelt on the floor of the chamber, panting slightly.

 After a moment he realized that he ached all over with what must have been excruciating pain, muscles week and trembling, he doubted that he could move, let alone stand.

 Suddenly Tiger was there at his side, the pride in the other mans eyes was surprising, Harry did not understand it in the least, but at the moment he couldn't quite remember the words to phrase the question he wanted to ask.

 Tiger gripped Harry's upper arm, but the boy did not want to stand, and simply fall again. Tiger was insistent, however, and soon had Harry on his feet.

 He partly carried, partly dragged and partly supported the boy back to his rooms, where he slept in complete oblivion of what was going on in the world around him.

 Dreams chased each other through Harry's mind, each forgotten the moment it came to its conclusion, none that he paid any heed too. He was coming to himself now, aware of pain and weakness, but otherwise he was lost in this world of dreams.

 Life called him though, the waking life, as he was forced to answer that call. Eyes drifted open and he was surprised to find himself in his room with Tiger and Sirius seated at either side of his bed.

 "You're awake," Sirius remarked with obvious relief. "You've slept for five days, you know," he added, eyes filled with worry.

 "_Five?_" Harry shot up in the bed, eyes widening in surprise, all thoughts of sleep vanishing from his mind, before his arms collapsed, dumping him back on his back on the bed.

 "Yes, five. We've been worried sick, but you are awake now, and that is what matters," Tiger replied, unflappable.

 Harry smiled weakly. "So I am," he remarked.

 "Food will arrive shortly, we'll leave you to your own devices," Sirius added, standing up and stretching slightly, he and Tiger leaving Harry lying on his bed.

 Sure enough, not long after, a house elf appeared with a tray of food, which the little creature actually had to feed to Harry, since he could not move his arm well enough to lift the spoon.

 When food was finished, he slept again, but what felt like only minutes later hunger pangs woke him once more, and an elf appeared to feed him.

 In this manner he built up strength, recovering faster than either Sirius or Tiger seemed to think that he would be able to. Vision was sharper without his glasses, and he could smell things that he had not been able to before.

 As the days passed on the memories that led up to his collapse returned, and shivered, remembering the feeling of being thrust aside in his own mind, something much more powerful taking over for a few precious moments.

 He spent much of his time conversing with Sirius about his godfather's transformation, which had apparently been nowhere near as bad as this had.

 "It hurt, but it was just like the ache of muscles after a long days work, a single night's sleep and some decent meals had me back to normal in no time. By the way, what is your form? Tiger only told me that it was for you to tell me about when you awoke and were ready to speak of it," Sirius told him once.

 "It's a black panther with white wings … they were pale, like moonlight, but they glowed slightly," Harry replied, the last was more thinking aloud as he remembered it. 

 He heard Sirius's intake of breath, but it seemed unimportant as he remembered those wings. He would be able to fly without needing his broom now. The freedom he felt in the air would be a daily reality, he would no longer be bound to the ground, forced to use tools like brooms, however fun they were, to fly.

 "I will let you sleep, I have to speak with Tiger on a matter that I have just remembered," Sirius, said, and Harry only nodded absently, not really paying his godfather any heed.

 He slept soon after the other man left, and his dreams were filled with the air currents swirling around him, held up by wings of snowy white feathers …

 The morning came far too quickly, but he could feed himself now, and ate the food that had been there when he woke before dressing himself.

 When Sparrow entered the room, she smiled faintly to find him already awake, up and dressed. He was used to waking up at the usual time she came for him.

 "Today you will begin learning the rules of the Academy," she told him. "Which means that you must have mastered your animagus form, or at least the first of them?"

 "Yes", was his simple reply. He would tell her the name that he had chosen when he felt the time right, and that was not now.

 She only nodded in acceptance that he had either not decided on a name to be called, or did not want to tell anyone what it was yet.

 She led the way to a room, as it had been with Tiger; a single teacher occupied it. It seemed that all of the lessons were taught one on one at this stage. 

 "Please be seated, you may call me Serpent," the woman told him, looking up at him suddenly, her eyes were a shocking purple colour, combined with pale silver hair and white skin she looked decidedly creepy.

 "Here you will learn the code of rules that govern the Seekers Academy, before you join the other new arrivals and learn the history and other written work, as well weapons and spells with them.

 "You know, of course, that this is a school which teaches things that are generally shunned in the world outside. Assassination and theft being two of the foremost among those."

 Here she paused, looking at him, and waited for his nod before continuing. She had the sound of someone who had done this a hundred times before.

 "Here there is no past, and no future, only the present. You may die or live, depending on how strong you are and how quickly and well you learn your lessons.

 "Many here die, whether by their own stupidity, such as cutting themselves open with the weapon that they are learning to use, or for insulting another student and losing the resulting fight. Fights are encouraged, and only the strongest, ruthless people can move up in the world. Here, death is life, and our motto is Demori Iuvenis Nunquam Vester – you're never too young to die." (Please forgive me if I got that wrong, I'm just going by an Internet site, if you know the correct form, please tell me in a review).

 "Now, there are laws governing this as much as anything else. No one in the all white uniform can be killed, and only harmed on very rare occasions. The moment you move up to the next level – you'll learn about that later in another class, thank god – you could well be killed, but it is unlikely, because you are still new, and only one of your own level would be able to challenge you for most reasons. It depends, of course, on what you do. If you insult one of the older more experienced people, they may well kill you.

 "Once you go up a level after that, and it is a lot harder to achieve that than it is to get through to the second level, you stand a very good chance of being killed.

 "The only way that a Shadow Master can be replaced is if someone kills him and takes the place, or there is a fight to see who is the most ruthless and the best fighter here. Our current Shadow Master has lasted longer than the last twenty before him combined, and has been here for the past five years."

 Harry found it hard not to gape. Five years was longer than the last twenty combined? How often did the position change?

 "To be Shadow Master is to put your life at great risk, because all of the students want to be the Shadow Master, although you can only become Shadow Master if you reach the third level at least …"

 Serpent's voice went on and on, detailing many things that Harry did not really understand, but all of which he filed away to keep for the time that he _did_ understand it.

 By that night he had learned the Laws of the Academy, and would join the same class as Sirius in the morning. Sirius had been able to tell Harry little about the class, as it was necessary to attend them to fully understand, but what he had said was good.

 Sirius had obviously overcome all doubts that he had had about coming to this place, and was enjoying the lessons immensely, so Harry looked forward to attending them as well.

 When he got back to his room that night, Sirius was waiting for him, settled on the chair beside Harry's bed. He leapt to his feet the moment he saw Harry, smiling in welcome. 

 Harry hugged his godfather gently, smiling faintly at how familiar this had become. They'd both been somewhat nervous around each other at first, not knowing how to behave, but that was gone now, and that was all that mattered. 

 "So, are you going to show me your animagus form?" Sirius asked curiously. Harry blinked, and realized that he hadn't shown his godfather his form yet, but then, it would be a slow process to change form again, but he would do it, to show Sirius his form.

 Harry settled down on the ground, cross-legged as he had been when he first changed, and he found the same place in his mind. He came there quicker this time, but it took him some time to find the memory of the shape change in his mind.

 When he found it he … embraced it, he felt it flow around him, felt the slight breeze that was fur rippling over his skin, felt the sudden shift in his bones as the moved to make the change to his new form.

 Finally, and he was aware that it took some time, if not how much exactly, the shape shift was done and the glass bubble that surrounded his mind disappeared.

 Immediately the mind of the panther tried to take control, but this time Harry was more ready for it, and pushed it down firmly, turning to face Sirius and unfolding his beautiful glowing wings.

 The expression on Sirius's face was delightful, the man was gaping in awe at the creature before him, strong and proud it was the Harry that was hidden most of the time, for fear of his relatives, or something else, or the depression that had come after Cedric Diggory's death.

 Harry changed back after a moment, slowly, savoring the ability to do so. "So, you like it?" he asked his godfather with a faint smile.

 Sirius merely pointed to the mirror that was in the room. "Take a look at yourself," he said quietly.

 Harry, not understanding what his godfather meant, did so, and gaped, for his eyes, normally a brilliant green, now had a sheen of misty gold that was fading slightly even as he looked, there was a ring of black around the inner edges of his eyes, but that too was fading to white and disappearing.

 "What happened?" Harry asked eyes wide with surprise.

 "I was hoping that you'd tell me," Sirius replied. "Dammit, I hate mysteries, and this seems all too much like one."

 Harry merely smiled at his godfather and walked over to his bed. "I feel worn out, and I'm joining you tomorrow, so I think I should get some rest," he remarked.

 Sirius nodded immediately. "Yes, rest would be very good, before your first day," Harry wondered what made him say that. First day must be the worst.

 He fell into bed and was asleep before Sirius had even walked out the door, fatigued beyond belief, though he did not know why. He did not even remember closing his eyes.

 Harry spent the night in a sleep that made that the dead seem rowdy, and it was all Sparrow could do to wake him in the morning. In fact, it she didn't manage to wake him, and had to call Sirius in to perform the operation.

 Harry, therefore, had the doubtable honor of being awakened the same way his father had, every day of his Hogwarts life. That is to say, being hauled out of the bed and dumped unceremoniously on the floor, and, when that failed (as it apparently had often done with his father) Sirius directed a load of water, strewn with ice cubes over his godson's head.

 That managed to wake him up, and Sirius informed him (after hearing quite a bit of choice language) that they needed to work on his vocabulary. "Your father could do much better than that on his first day at Hogwarts when he was eleven," Sirius told Harry with a look of surprise on his face. "I'm surprised you didn't know more than that!"

 Harry merely grumbled under his breath and shooed both his godfather and Sparrow out of the room so that he could change without Sirius doing something even worse than he had by waking him up.

 When he walked out of the room five minutes later, however, he appeared completely happy and wide awake. They both gaped at him, but then Sparrow led the way to the classrooms muttering something under her breath.

 Harry didn't pay her much attention; apparently deciding that it was much more fun teasing Sirius, or torturing him into getting his godfather to tell him about what the school was like.

 The only thing that he learned, however, was something that he was already aware of. He would find out when he got there.

 Finally, they arrived at the classroom, Sparrow left them then, heading to her own class, why this was, was one of the only questions Sirius would answer. She had been there longer, and there were different classes for those who had been in the Academy for longer periods of time.

 "There are people of all ages in all of the classes, I am certainly not the only adult here, and most of what they teach, I was not aware could be done," Sirius added, pushing open the door. "You, I believe, are the youngest among us."

 He was right about that, certainly. Apart from him, the youngest appeared to be a woman who looked about nineteen, and she also appeared young compared to the rest of the class.

 Harry felt quite nervous about being here, but Sirius directed an encouraging smile his way before leaving to make his way towards a seat, there were no desks, just seats, in the row second from the front.

 A moment later a man, tall with pale grey eyes and grey hair who seemed very old, walked into the room. "Ah, you have joined us now, have you?" He remarked, turning pale eyes to Harry, who only nodded, and gulped when the man looked away from him.

 The man walked to front of the room and sat down. "Now, none of you have had this lesson before, so I won't have to go over anything that other people have already learned, which is good, we can start from the beginning!" The man said, his voice was cool, misty but at the same time there was hardness hidden in its icy depths. Harry didn't like him at all.

 "The Seekers Academy was founded by a murderer on the run from the law, who decided to gather all of the other people like him to a safe haven. At first there was just a small village, but as numbers grew the wizards and witches among them began building this place, and Muggle carpenters and such helped to make it look its best.

 "It did not take long for each of them, thieves, spies, murders, assassins and the like to begin teaching one another what they knew, and as time passed and the original founders died and were replaced, it became a school where anyone who wanted to learn such things would be found and brought to us, if they did not find us themselves…"

 The man went on and on about various things, gave a brief overview of what they would learn with him, all of it sounded somewhat boring, and then quite suddenly shooed them from the classroom into the corridor, informing them to hurry on to their next lesson.

 Harry had no idea what he was talking about, but the others from his class seemed to, so he followed them and ended up in a large room, the walls lined with various weapons, swords, daggers, bow and arrows … there were too many to count.

 Sirius was in the room already, fencing with a man that was about the same size as he, sword's flickering, searching for an opening. There were a lot of people in the room, all in the pure white robes that proclaimed them as new.

 Some of those who had been there when Harry arrived came over, Sirius included. Harry's godfather walked straight to him. "I'll get you started with weapons, you'll need to know something about them by tomorrow, because there will be a proper teacher then," he said softly.

 Harry merely nodded. "The history teacher is freaky," he remarked to Sirius, who nodded in fervent agreement.

 "Don't trust him, kid," he told Harry firmly.

 "I won't, he felt untrustworthy … I wonder if he's a Death Eater or something, because anyone can come here and no questions will be asked about them," Harry replied, frowning slightly. 

 "That was a thought that I did _not need," Sirius muttered in annoyance, "but you are right, we need to remember that no one here is a friend, save for the two of us. Everyone else cannot be trusted."_

 "I think that Tiger can, but we can talk of that later," Harry replied. Sirius nodded.

 "Come with me, we'll get you a practice sword. Once you've mastered a weapon, you can get the proper thing, it's like wands really, the weapon chooses you, not you it," Sirius told him.

 A few minutes later Sirius was teaching him the basics of swords craft. Harry was a little clumsy at first, but it did not take him long to find his balance, and working the basic forms came fairly easily after a few practices. 

 Sirius smiled at Harry, and the boy could see pride in his godfather's eyes, which made him strive even harder to do well at this.

 After a short time, Sirius told him to put the sword down, and Harry frowned slightly. "We have to move from weapon to weapon both so that what you learn varies and so that we can find out where you're weak and strong points are," he explained. 

 Harry nodded and put the sword down and let Sirius lead him into a corner where he began learning the basics of unarmed fighting. This took longer than the sword had, but again it did not take Harry long to find his balance, and the stretches were fairly easy, Harry was good at twisting his body to get into small places, some of the jobs the Dursley's had asked him to do required it, and when he was hiding from Dudley, the smaller his chosen hiding place, the less chance Dudley would find him. When they got to the actual moves, however, was when things got a little more difficult.

 They moved on to daggers some time later, and then to archery. Harry found that actually _aiming_ the bow was very difficult, though it did not take him long to learn how to draw it, he still managed to miss the target almost every time.

 By the day's end he was completely worn out, and counted himself lucky that he did not have to find his own way back to his rooms, because he didn't think that he'd have made it otherwise.

 The moment he reached his rooms he fell asleep, without even bothering to eat dinner, but when Sparrow came for him in the morning, he was awake and eating breakfast hungrily.

 "It won't be long before you can find your own way to the classes, you'll remember the changes after a while," she remarked, before leaving to wake Sirius.

 Harry was eager to begin again that day, to see how far he could get, and was relieved to find that they only had the history teacher once a week.

 There were other lessons, but you did not learn them until you reached the next level, just dueling and non-magic fighting was taught to beginners.

 They would be spending all of that day on fighting skills, and all of the next on magical dueling, which Harry was eager to learn, since he would certainly need it against Voldemort and the Death Eaters at some point.

********************************************************

There, another chapter come and passed! Please review and the next chapter will be out very soon!

Thanks To:

BlackDragon, Katy99, shdurrani, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Clare, maria, brion, PR LUCKEN, ADJ, Songbreeze Swifteye, Jocelyn, Jocelyn, Syd, Mr. Happy Java Man, Queen of Redwall, ~Mary~, Old Fawkes and blackunicorn! Thanks for the support guys, 21 reviews! Please keep up the reviews, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the previous ones!

~WolfMoon~


	5. Chapter Four

_~Queen of the Jungle~ _Hello everybody!! (Gulps as angry readers glare at her) I'm really VERY, VERY, VERY sorry that I took so long to beta this!! DON'T BLAME WOLFIE!! IT'S MY FAULT!! (Looks scared as readers reach inside their clothes for items she'd rather not identify) I have been sick, and trying to catch up at school, that's why I've taken so long. Once again, I'm very very, very, VERY SORRY!! (Queenie runs away screaming with a crowd of readers pelting her with rotting vegetables hot on her tail) SOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter Five:

 A week later the owl that Harry had sent to Ron and Hermione at the Burrow returned, weighed down with gifts for him. He felt somewhat overwhelmed by his friend's affection.

 There were several books, a cake, a load of practical jokes from Fred and George, and a wizard radio from Ron.

 Harry wrote a quick note back saying that he loved all of the gifts and that he and 'Peter' were safe and well.

 The next day the Shadow Master came to Harry's room, to wish him a happy birthday, of all things. "You may keep the radio," he told Harry when the boy asked. "It is always useful to know what is happening elsewhere."

 Two weeks after that, Harry and Sirius both moved on to Level Two in the Seekers Academy, and began really learning what they were about.

 The thing that Sirius disliked about this was that they began learning the assassins trade, and the spying one as well. "Oh well, it'll be useful, I suppose," he granted, but he didn't like it in the least.

 The first that was learnt was that you couldn't trust anyone, especially not your classmates. To help spread dissention, the class all reported to someone on the activities of the other members, and the more the teachers found out about you, the harder they worked you, so no one trusted anyone else.

 Only Harry and Sirius were different. Both calmly informed their teachers that they would not spy on one another, that they been together too long, gone through too much to simply turn their backs on each other now.

 Surprisingly, the teachers agreed, and that was how Harry found himself settled back to back in a large mazelike structure made of thorny bushes.

 They were both armed with a sword and dagger tipped with a mixture that would make anyone cut with them fall unconscious immediately. They were at a corner, waiting for unsuspecting classmates to come to close.

 Some of the others had teamed up for this, they would guard each others back now, but tomorrow when they did a similar exercise, they may well being trying to kill one another. 

 Harry cocked his head suddenly, there was a sound, coming from Sirius's way, both he and Sirius heard better than most, because their animagus forms were hunters and sharp senses were required.

 He touched Sirius's shoulder lightly, and his godfather nodded. So Sirius had heard them too. Harry's emerald-gold eyes shone for a moment, catching a stray ray of light.

 The gold sheen was much more visible now, but not so much that it cut off the green, and they seemed to change a little, it was much more in evidence if he had just transformed, but at other moments too it was brighter. 

 Neither he nor Sirius understood what did it, but the gold was always there to some extent now, though now it was bright and fresh, but Harry had no way of knowing that.

 He touched Sirius's shoulder again and held up two fingers, indicating that there were two people approaching. Sirius tilted his head and listened for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

 Harry made a slight gesture with the dagger from his belt, and raised an eyebrow. Sirius frowned for a moment, and then nodded his head in agreement. They would each take one, with daggers not sword.

 Harry and Sirius melted back around the corner, instead of crouching just before the turn on either side to wait for their prey to come within their grasp.

 A moment later the pair came around the corner, keeping to either side of the walkway to avoid coming to close. That was the problem with not trusting anyone; you couldn't work as a team even when you had to.

 Harry bounded forwards, neatly tripping his opponent and opening a small gash on the others flung up arm, Sirius kicked out, catching his in the chest and sending him reeling backwards before the dagger took it's bite.

 Together they dragged the limp bodies over to a growing pile. Ten of their classmates were already defeated, all in a similar fashion, which meant that there was another six around the place still.

 Making sure that there was no one within earshot, Harry spoke aloud to his godfather. "I think we should move around a little, this is a big place, who's to say that anyone will come this way again."

 "Good idea kid. Let's go," Sirius agreed.

 They weren't allowed to change to animagus forms because otherwise some would have an advantage over others, from having a larger, stronger form, or if they were a bird they would be able to fly above the maze and search out all of the others.

 Moving quickly but silently, ears and eyes searching the way ahead at all times, Harry and Sirius moved away from their corner without looking back.

 They kept to the sides of the path, signaling one another to keep up to date with what was happening, they'd developed a primitive set of hand signals in the first week, and it was evolving since then to a fairly complicated mode of actual speech which they used through classes and in situations like this one.

 Thirty minutes later they'd found the other pairs and defeated them. This happened quite often, because they could work together so well, but at first they'd had almost as much trouble as the other groups, and were 'killed' as often as they 'killed' others.

 Now though, they had a seventy-five percent chance of 'killing' everyone else, and the rest was that someone would get to one of the others first. This hadn't happened today, however.

 It was around now that Harry and Sirius finally left the confines of Shadow's Keep, as the school itself was called, to learn the outdoor parts of fighting, which mainly included horse riding, tracking and fighting on all terrains.

 Both Harry and Sirius were glad to be in the open air more often, the castle grew dark and stuffy after a short time, and it turned out that Harry, at least, was a natural at horse riding.

 Sirius, on the other hand, hardly knew one end of the animal from the other and edged around the creatures with obvious wariness, which caused Harry no end of amusement.

 It turned out that Harry was not so quick a learner when it came to spells, most of which Sirius already knew, so he had an advantage there.

 He was better than most of the people his age, but found himself struggling to keep up with the older group of people that made up his class.

 In dueling, Harry learned with a speed that surprised his teachers, who'd seen how slow he could be to learn many of the other spells that they were taught, but Sirius knew that fighting was a Potter family trait, and Harry had inherited a double share from his parents, both of whom were incredibly good at fighting. 

 Luckily, Harry had Sirius to help him get through the more difficult spells, and just had to expend huge amounts of effort and spare time to mastering the spells that Sirius did not have the time to teach him.

 Back At The Weasleys:

 September the first was approaching fast, Hermione was fully prepared, and, thanks to her presence, Ron had completely his homework on time and had all of his school things packed.

 Both he and Hermione had somehow managed to become the new Gryffindor Prefects, much to Ron's surprise, on his account, and Fred and George's disgust, also on his account.

 "That's the _third prefect we've had!" George muttered angrily._

 "Shame. We thought you might have a chance of evading fate," Fred added, a look of pretended sorrow in his eyes.

 Fred and George seemed happy to be in their last year of school, and immediately after the year ended were going to set up a joke shop in Diagon Alley to rival Zonko's.

 Now all that they had to do was wait.

 "It feels weird to be going back to school without Harry," Ron remarked with a sigh. "Malfoy will probably be completely uncontrollable, and with Snape as well … we really don't stand a chance."

 "No, but we will be prefects, so we can take points off Malfoy if he tries anything. Won't work with Snape, of course, but we can do something about one of them," Hermione replied. "There are advantages to being prefects, whatever Fred and George think."

 September the first dawned bright and clear, and the Weasley's piled into the car, miraculously, no one had forgotten anything, and they made it Kings Cross without any trouble at all.

 Entering Platform Nine and Three Quarters was a breeze; Arthur came with Hermione as the first people through, then Ron and Ginny, Fred and George and finally Molly to make sure that there was always someone to watch in case of attack. No one else was quite as paranoid, but no one else really believed that the Dark Lord had come back.

 Once on the Platform, the family said quick goodbyes before Ron and Hermione moved to the prefect compartments at the front of the train and settled in to wait for the train to leave.

 Five minutes later, just before the train was due to depart, they received some bad news: Malfoy had been made a prefect as well, and they would be spending the entire journey in compartments next door to his.

 Of course, he wasn't about to be in the same compartment as them for the whole ride, so he just went next door without a word, this time. Ron and Hermione supposed that there were too many people around for him to feel comfortable about baiting the Gryffindors.

 Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot turned out to be the Hufflepuff prefects, and they joined Ron and Hermione, running quite late, just as the doors began to close.

 The other prefects would be on the train, talking to friends and would head up as the train began to move. Their bags were already stored in the compartment.

 Ernie broke the silence as the train began to move, leaning towards them earnestly.

 "I don't believe a word of what Fudge said in the newspapers," he told them fiercely. "I made the mistake of doubting Harry Potter once, and thinking that he might be the heir of Slytherin. He wasn't, and he's as good as they come. I just wanted you to know that if you ever need help, or a friend, just come to me, or Hannah."

 Ron and Hermione looked slightly surprised, they knew about what had happened back in second year, and knew that Harry had been quite friendly with Ernie after that, but they'd never expected anything like help from him.

 "Thank you. We don't know where Harry is, but he must be safe, we'd have had word if anyone had seen him, or if they'd found him dead or something," Hermione said. "But if we get word from him, we'll let you know, he might try and contact us, being his friends and all."

 "That's cool," Ernie replied with a smile. "We won't ask you anything, we just wanted to know if we could help."

 Hermione smiled back at him. "You've helped just by offering to be friends," she told him. "And by believing in Harry. But if we do need any more help, you'll be the first we ask."

 Ernie nodded, and they both moved back to where the other Hufflepuff prefects were seated.

 A moment later the thing both Ron and Hermione had been waiting for happened. Malfoy came out of his compartment and walked towards them with a sneer. Pansy Parkinson was the other Slytherin prefect; they could see her in the doorway, watching Malfoy. Pansy practically hero-worshipped him.

 "Missing little Potty are we?" Draco asked, sneering. "Well, it won't be long before he's dead, whether at the hands of your precious Ministry, or the Dark Lord, then you won't have to worry anymore."

 "Go away Malfoy," Ron said absently, looking out a window and not appearing to really notice the Slytherin any more than an annoying fly buzzing around his ear.

 Malfoy looked furious, which was the plan that Ron and Hermione had figured out over the holidays so that they could deal with Harry not being there, and the taunts that Malfoy would give them at every opportunity.

 Pay no attention to him, or just dismiss him as nothing if you had to speak with him.

 Hermione turned to look out the window as well, watching the fields sweep past the train windows. "Haven't died yet, Mudblood? Heard from your parents lately? You won't, not ever again. It's dangerous to know Potty, and be a mudblood as well."

 "Really Malfoy? Whatever you say, don't forget to shut the compartment door on the way out," Hermione replied.

 Malfoy's mouth worked in surprise, and then he turned and stalked out of the compartment into his own, eyes full of fury. The moment she was sure he was not still watching, Hermione let the tears she'd been holding back fall.

 "Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron asked her, concerned.

 "He's right, I haven't heard from mum and dad in ages, they sent a letter every week, up until two weeks ago. I'd just thought that they'd assumed I'd be busy with getting ready for school and hadn't written to take my mind of that."

 Ron rested a hand on her arm. "There's nothing to say that isn't what happened," he told her firmly. "You have to believe they are alright until you get evidence that they aren't."

 Hermione nodded and wiped the tears away. "Come on, let's go and see what our classmates have been doing over the holidays."

 Finally they reached Hogwarts and the train stopped. Ron and Hermione got into a horseless carriage and where soon followed by Ernie and Hannah.

 "We saw that Slytherin kid, Malfoy, talking to you, he left in a right fit of temper! Well done for that," Hannah said, speaking for the first time in their presence.

 Hermione smiled wearily. Ron looked at the Hufflepuff's and sighed. "He said that her parents were killed, and she can't stop worrying about them," he told them, sadness in his own eyes.

 Two shocked gasps came from the Hufflepuffs and Ernie's eyes lit up with a fierce light. "How could anyone sink that low?" he demanded in disgust.

 "His father was a Death Eater, managed to escape justice when You-Know-Who fell last time, but Malfoy's as much as admitted that he'll be one too," Ron said coldly. "And you have to be pretty low to join the Death Eaters!"

 "Again, if you need help with dealing with Malfoy, just come to us, four prefects against two, and we can talk to some of the older prefects as well. You should do that with your own year, we might be able to get his prefects badge confiscated for breaking the rules if we're careful."

 "You need three witnesses to that, and they can't all be from the same house, but we have a friend in Ravenclaw, she's a prefect too, and she'll come, that way we can come with you whenever you aren't in classes, since we have mostly the same work anyway, so we need the same books, and we can keep him in line," Hannah said.

 Ron and Hermione smiled at them. "Thanks for the offer, we accept!" Hermione said, as the carriages lurched to a halt.

 "See you later!" Ernie called, jumping down and hurrying over to join their Hufflepuff year mates.

 Ron and Hermione where about to enter the hall with the rest of the older students when Dumbledore appeared nearby, motioning them to come with him.

 A quick look passed between them, and then they hurried after the headmaster, following him up to his office, where Dumbledore spoke the password (he seemed to have run out of wizard candy to use, and the password was now mars bars).

 "Come in, please," he told them gravely.

 They walked in and took a seat, watching the headmaster with wary, expectant faces. They were very surprised when instead of beginning with some grave news; Dumbledore's first words were to offer them sherbet lemons.

 Hermione blinked. "We will be going to the feast soon, Sir," she reminded him.

 "Ah yes, of course. Well, we'd best get down to business, I've never missed a sorting yet, but this time I suppose I'm going to have to. I don't think that I should miss the feast, as well though, that wouldn't be good.

 "Now, first off, do you know anything that might lead to Mr. Potter's whereabouts?"

 "No, I'm sorry we don't know anything other than that he goes by the penname James and Sirius is Peter. He's sent a few owls, but has said that he cannot tell us anything about where he is, because it's forbidden," Hermione explained.

 Dumbledore sighed. "Could you bring me the letters he has sent you tomorrow, please? And when he sends you another one, once you've read it, I would like to see it. I will give them back, eventually, but it could be important."

 "Of course Professor," Hermione said immediately. "Was that all?" She sounded almost hopeful.

 "Unfortunately, no, it was not. Miss Granger, I'm sad to inform you that your parents were killed in a plane crash caused by Voldemort a few weeks ago. We have only just been able to identify the bodies."

 Hermione looked at him and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Dumbledore reached over and patted her shoulder gently, turning to Ron.

 "Perhaps you and Miss Granger would like to head up to Gryffindor Tower, I'll ask the house elves to bring you some food in a few moments, I'm sure your year mates can tell you what goes on at the feast," he told the boy, who nodded his head and led Hermione out of the room.

 Dumbledore sighed sadly and walked down to the Great Hall to address the students when the feast was finished.

 "I know that some of you liked Harry Potter, so did most of your teachers. You will all have heard that Voldemort is indeed back now, and one of our number has been struck by this more than most the others. Miss Granger's parents were killed a short time ago, and I must say that if I hear of anyone saying anything to her that might be deemed as hurtful, they will have their house points cut in half, and if that person is a Prefect, their badges will be taken away. Suspension will also be used as a punishment, depending on what was said."

Back With Harry:

 Harry crouched against the back of the giant black stallion he was riding, urging the magnificent creature onwards with his heels, eyes fixed on the upcoming turn – there would be someone or something behind that turn he would have to fight, he knew there would be.

 As he rounded the turn, one hand on the hilt of his sword, a block of stone was falling fast on a rope towards his head. He pulled the sword from its sheath and swung it firmly, there was a ring of metal and the stone shuddered sideways, Harry continued at a gallop.

 A short time later he rejoined his classmates after successfully completing the course. They had training courses like this all the time, and it would get a little repetitive, if the courses weren't always different.

 He and Sirius, who had already had his go, moved apart from the others in their group to talk quietly, putting up a listening ward so that no one could hear what they were saying, even if it wasn't important.

 "You didn't get hurt?" Sirius asked anxiously.

 "Of course not! Have I ever gotten hurt since the first time?" Harry replied with a smile.

 "No, but that doesn't mean you didn't this time," Sirius told him firmly. "How are you going with that transforming a mouse into a cat?"

 Harry made a face. This was the latest spell that his class was learning, and even with Sirius's extra help, he couldn't do it at all. He let the expression tell his godfather the answer to the question.

 "Keep working on it kid, it'll work sooner or later," Sirius said, resting a hand for a moment on Harry's arm. Harry smiled at his godfather for a moment, and they joined the others without saying another word.

 That night, in Harry's rooms, they were practicing yet again when there was a knock on the door. Harry passed a curious glance in his godfather's direction, before calling for the knocker to come in.

 It was Shadow Master, Harry hadn't seen the man for some time now, not since they had been raised to second level. "Padfoot, would you mind leaving so that I can talk to Panther alone, please?" Shadow Master asked calmly.

 Sirius glanced at Harry, who quickly made the motion 'go, I'll be fine', and his godfather left the room quickly.

 "Hello Panther," Shadow Master said, smiling faintly at the boy. "How are your lessons going?"

 Harry just scowled at him, he knew perfectly well that Shadow Master knew everything that happened in the school, and would therefore know the exact state of Harry's learning.

 Shadow Master noted the expression on the boy's face and smiled faintly. "I know that you are having trouble with spells, but that's not why I came around. I want to know if you see better at some times than others."  
 "Yes, I'm seeing better in the dark," Harry growled out. He didn't like Shadow Master much, the man made him feel stupid and was always teasing.

 Shadow Master nodded once and stood up, wandering out of the room without another word. Harry sighed and threw himself down on the bed, falling asleep quickly. He didn't notice Sirius glance in to check he was ok, in fact, he knew nothing until the next morning when he woke up to eat breakfast.

 "Sirius, are you dueling with me?" Harry asked his godfather later that day in dueling practice.

 "No kid, sorry, the teacher said we have to split up for this lesson," Sirius replied with a sigh. "I don't want to, but hey, can't change it."

 Harry nodded warily. Wolf turned out to be his partner. Wolf had a grudge against Harry dating back from the first day that Harry had been in the castle, and Harry was really not looking forward to going up against him.

 The duel progressed relatively well, Wolf started out a good partner, blocking and attacking with the perfect amount of force, but suddenly he used stronger spells, breaking through Harry's defenses and getting his wand.

 Harry cursed under his breath, and wished hard that his wand were back in his hand, to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his opponents face. To his surprise – and Wolf's – the wand did just that, leaping from Wolf's hand into Harry's again.

  Nobody else had noticed, and Wolf was determined to beat Harry without a teacher's aid. Harry, however, was thinking about what he had done, and when Wolf yelled, "Stupefy!" Harry concentrated on it going back at him.

 Much to his surprise – and Wolf's – the curse did just that, knocking Wolf out cold. Harry quickly performed a simple memory charm that would make sure Wolf did not remember a thing that had happened besides Harry beating him with a stunning spell.

 "Well done Panther," the teacher, known as Lynx, said with a look of clear surprise. While he was good, Harry had never been _that_ good. Harry nodded his head in acceptance of the praise and settled down to watching Sirius laid into his opponent, a young man named Hound.

 When Sirius had beaten Hound, he and Harry headed to a private practice classroom. Once you reached level two you went to whichever class you wanted to go to, when you wanted to, and could take the whole day off, if you wanted to.

 "What happened?" Sirius asked the moment he knew the room was secure from listeners.

 "I have no idea," Harry replied, and described the events that had happened, throughout the explanation, Sirius's eyes got wider and wider, until he was finally finished.

 Taking one look at his godfather, Harry had to laugh. "Why do you look like that?" He asked him curiously.

 "That was wandless magic. A lot of it," seemed to be the only thing that Sirius could say. When Harry asked what he meant, he was answered by the same phrase.

 With a sigh, Harry sat down to wait for his godfather to get over his surprise and explain what the hell he was going on about. This took quite a while.

 "Ok. Wandless magic is magic used without the aid of a wand. Therefore the person using it is acting as the wand and calling raw magic, which is very powerful and has pretty much the same effect as a bolt of lightning.

 "It doesn't require the motions and incantations that we have been forced to adopt in order to channel magic through wands, and it is highly dangerous. Some people might master a few basic charms with wandless magic. Such as being able to create light, maybe call a small object, such as a pen, to themselves, or create food. In most cases it will kill you.

 "Magic on it's own is incredibly powerful, and it is far to easy to lose control, and the moment you do that, it rebounds on you and destroys you."

 Harry looked at his godfather with a pale, frightened face. "But," Sirius continued, "I'm not completely sure how much this applies to you. You called magic itself without even having to study it; indeed, you didn't even know what it was. We'll have to see how far we can take this, because it will be to our definite advantage if you can keep doing this."

 Harry nodded his head for a moment, then stopped. "But it could kill me," he said, frowning.

 "For some spells that you do, another wizard can set up wards to prevent that happening," Sirius replied. "In this case, me."

 Harry nodded after a moments thought. "Ok, let's do the spell," he said. Sirius smiled reassuringly and took out his wand.

 It took several minutes for Sirius to get the wards in place, but he assured Harry that, once there, nothing would get rid of them unless another wizard knew the counter spell, which they probably wouldn't, if they had only studied here at the Seeker's Academy.

 "Ok, kid, now try that transformation with the cat and the mouse," Sirius suggested. The whole room was warded and he'd placed a lock spell on the door so that he would know if someone was trying to come in, and act accordingly.

 Harry nodded, and took out the shrunken cat and mouse for two different pockets in his bag. Each was contained within a miniature container, and each was happy in it's miniature world.

 After unshrinking them, Harry lifted the cat out first, and then continued to hold onto the mouse, because the two creatures didn't exactly like one another, and it was best to keep them apart.

 "Ok, now try and turn the cat into a mouse," Sirius instructed. "You don't the incantation, or movements any more, just try and picture it happening, and will it to happen."

 Harry looked at the cat, and Sirius noticed that immediately his godson's eyes went gold. Could it be that the gold came whenever Harry used wandless magic? He'd have to ask after this.

 He turned his attention back to the cat, and smiled proudly as it morphed into a mouse. "You did it Harry!" Sirius said, excited. 

 Harry smiled. "And it felt… right, doing it that way," he told his godfather, trying to find the right word. 

 "Harry, your eyes went gold," he told the boy. "I think that it might happen when you do wandless magic, it's already fading again, but it does that when you change to a panther. And I still don't get how you did that with very few problems, yet couldn't manage this until now…"

 "I think that I can answer that, Sirius," Harry said after a moments thought. "I didn't use a wand to perform the animagus transformation. I used thought, or wandless magic, though most animagi obviously haven't realised that's what makes their transformations happen, otherwise I suppose they wouldn't be allowed to do them. That's why it's so dangerous to do without proper wards."

 "I have a genius for a godson," Sirius remarked. "Of course that's what it was! Why didn't I think of that? God, I can be dumb sometimes …"

 "I know," Harry sighed in agreement, and, to his surprise, his godfather didn't even notice.

 "Ok, Harry, now try the mouse to cat spell," ah, that was why, he was concentrating on something else. Best not repeat that remark then.

 Harry turned to the mouse and pictured the smooth transformation that happened whenever Sirius performed the spell. To his surprise and delight, this worked.

 Sirius smiled happily. "I don't think that we should practice this too much, it's very powerful forces we are working with, and it'll tire you out like nothing else will," he told Harry.

 Harry, who was feeling somewhat dizzy and only wanted to sit down for a while, nodded in complete agreement, and they headed for Harry's room.

 Once there and sure that the wards were still in place – to stop anyone entering and to stop eavesdroppers – they went inside and Harry immediately fell onto his bed, while Sirius took the chair.

 "I'd always wondered, when you told me that you often had difficulties with spells when they weren't for Dark Arts purposes," Sirius began. "Your mother and father were two of the best Hogwarts had ever taught. I knew you must have inherited their power, because they had a _lot_ of it. I never thought that all that power put into you would magnify, as it has, and require wandless magic to channel it.

 "That's why you've had so many problems. The wand, rather than amplifying your magic, as it should, it has limited it instead, because you have too much power to draw on it all through the wand, and without working to your best potential, the magic doesn't work right for you," Sirius explained the real difficulty behind Harry's magic.

 Harry smiled faintly. Even Ron often managed to learn a spell faster than Harry did, and he'd often wondered why that was, when, as Sirius had said, his parents were very powerful people.

 "Well, we know now, you just have to learn to control your power, and I'm warning you, Harry, do _not attempt to use it, except in animagus transformations, because it could easily kill you!"_

 Harry nodded his head. "Ok Sirius, I promise," he said.

 Sirius smiled. "Ok, I'm going to head for weapons classes, since that's on now, you don't need to come to that, since you're already better than I am, so you should get some rest, maybe do some studying!" With that he was gone.

 Studying. Harry hadn't read any books for the sake of just reading them in a long time. He remembered that he often got out books from the Hogwarts library simply because they looked interesting, and read passages from various parts of them.

 He unbuckled his sword from his side, because it was uncomfortable to have there while he was lying down, and frowned at it a moment, recalling the day he had got it.

 _Harry had finally progressed far enough in sword fighting to get a proper blade. This made him very happy, but when he looked at the blades that were on display, none of them seemed right._

_ He told this to the teacher, who frowned slightly. "Well, the sword chooses the wizard, and if none of those are right for you, then you'd best see the other selections," the man said, leading Harry into a smaller, darker room off the main fighting hall._

_ Harry followed him in, and looked at the swords around the walls. A few he lifted up and moved a little, but still none felt right. "None of these work either," he told the instructor._

_ The man sighed and led him into yet another room, but the same thing occurred. For a moment the instructor was undecided, and then he sighed to himself. "Those are all of the swords that I have here, I can only think that this means none are the right blade for you. Therefore, I'll have to ask you to take the one that feels the most right to you. That is not how I would like to do this, but I do not have a choice in the matter at the moment, since you need a proper blade._

 This blade was alright, Harry could use it, and use it well, at that, but it still didn't feel right, just like using a wand didn't always feel right, although in this case it wasn't that Harry didn't have the right wand, only that he didn't _need a wand._

 Tossing the sword down to the floor, Harry opened his Hogwarts trunk and looked through it, a small gold book catching his eyes. What was that? He didn't remember it being there before.

 Quickly, he took out the book and looked at the front cover, which was engraved into the gold binding of the book. _Elementals._

 Of course, it was the small book that he had picked up in Diagon Alley! Harry flipped through the pages, and stopped at one that looked interesting.

 _Humans are made up of the elements, and, as such, can control an element to some extent. It is most likely that they will be able to control that which is the element that they were born under, though oddities have occurred._

_ The control of this kind of magic is limited, and difficult to attain, because first you must have some sort of control of wandless magic, as Elemental magic is very close to this. The more control you have over wandless magic, the more you will have over Elemental._

Maybe he could learn to use Elemental magic, Harry thought to himself. If wandless magic was going to turn out to be the easiest way for him to perform spells, then he would surely have a good control of it, and therefore Elemental magic as well… according to this book.

 He sighed and put the book down beside his sword. He'd read more a bit later, right now he thought he should probably get some sleep, as he was quite worn out, and he wasn't going to miss the classes on magic later that afternoon, since it was his weakest point.

 The moment he closed his eyes, he was asleep.

********************************************************

Count yourselves lucky, you lot! Not only is this the longest chapter so far in this story – 5765 words – I didn't even leave a cliffy! See you next chapter, and don't forget to review!

Thanks To:

Wquad, Songbreeze Swifteye, brion, Jordan, Clare, Polvyn, Katy999, PR LUCKEN, Mr. Happy Java Man, Them Girl, Maxx77, Melissa, Old Fawkes, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, CR, CR, syd, Bob33, Rachel A. Prongs, and By Remy. That's 33 reviews for this chapter!

~WolfMoon~


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Six:

 As the next month past, the Gryffindors at Hogwarts stuck together, you never saw one Gryffindor without at least another five – something that annoyed Malfoy no end, because he knew that baiting Ron and Hermione with so many of their housemates around would be suicide.

 All of the Gryffindors were firmly of the notion that Harry Potter was innocent, and most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws believed the same, thus it was not unusual for members from each of these three houses to be seen together.

 The wizarding world was in a state of shock – Voldemort had started his attacks, only on Muggle-borns for the moment. It did not take long for the word to get out that Harry Potter had said this would be the case, and Fudge was fast losing his support from people.

 But this did not continue for long, as Fudge was one of the early victims of Voldemort's new reign of terror, killed along with his family in his manor home one night after he returned from the Ministry. There was a message from Voldemort, saying that Fudge had been a fool to disbelieve Harry Potter, but had made the Dark Lord's job a lot easier.

 However, the wizarding world was in more danger now that the blundering idiot Fudge had been killed, not less. It was Lucius Malfoy who came to office next, because he'd been very careful to stand against Voldemort in the public view, though of course Lucius was really a Death Eater, and wouldn't be of any help.

 One of the good things about this was that the new Minister had little choice but to leave Dumbledore with a firm control over Hogwarts, as Dumbledore had become one of the centre points of the Resistance Against Voldemort, a group of powerful witches and wizards who had banded together with their common hate of Voldemort as their driving force.

 All of the Weasley's who were out of school had joined it, though both Bill and Charlie worked with people in other countries, and neither was willing to leave their jobs.

 Both Ron and Hermione were progressing well in their lessons, and neither concentrated on anything but learning as much as they could as quick as they could.

 The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was Fleur Delacour, much to the surprise of most of the students. She too believed that Harry was innocent, she joined Dumbledore's group immediately after it started.

 One day, Ron and Hermione felt that it was time to see what Malfoy had been holding back all this time, and asked Cho Chang, the Head Girl, as well as Ernie to come and watch in secret, since they would need witnesses to prove that what they said had actually happened.

 They showed their friends a hiding place in a hidden notch in the wall, and then wandered out into the middle of the corridor talking softly. Malfoy would be here soon enough, since it was on the way to the Slytherin common room.

 "Well, well, well Weasel and Mudblood, all alone. What happened to your group of _friends_?" Malfoy sneered; Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles on either side of him.

 "At least we aren't afraid to go around alone. Can't say the same for you," Hermione retorted immediately, the cutting remark having exactly the effect on Malfoy that they had wanted it to.

 "That's it Granger, I'll get you back for what you did to me on the Hogwarts last year, you'll regret ever crossing me! I might even send you to join your parents if you're lucky!"

 The watchers were quivering with anger, but knew that they couldn't step in until Malfoy had actually made a move.

 "Always have to hide behind someone," Ron agreed with Hermione as if Malfoy hadn't even spoken. "Either those two or his father … he'll never be anything but a coward." He dropped like a stone as Malfoy yelled, "stupefy!"

 Immediately Cho and Ernie walked out from the shadows. "Malfoy! How could you! You're a prefect! Well, that's forbidden for normal students, so we have to confiscate your badge until the headmaster has time to see you."

 Malfoy gaped, but knew that he was on the wrong side of the school rules and had to comply with the other three prefects. Hermione revived Ron easily and they escorted Malfoy to the Headmasters office, making sure that Crabbe and Goyle went back to the dungeons.

 On hearing what had happened, Dumbledore immediately confiscated Malfoy's badge permanently, deducted half of Slytherin's house points (almost one hundred of them) and suspended Malfoy until further notice.

 The group of prefects headed from the office leaving Malfoy to get the last details of his punishment alone, and headed for the library to do some research for a Charms project that they had to do.

 That night the news was all over the school, the Minister's son had been suspended! Everyone but the Slytherins were celebrating, since Malfoy had been strutting around the school like he owned the place, bullying people into doing what he wanted.

 He'd been suspended from the Quidditch team, and therefore couldn't become captain – Angelina had become the captain of Gryffindor a week before, and the new Seeker was Denis Creevey. He wasn't as good as Harry was, but he was good enough. 

  The Slytherin's would not have been speaking to Malfoy if he wasn't the Minister of Magic's son, and power was gained by being friends with such people.

 Ron and Hermione sent a letter to 'James' telling him everything that happened, though they knew that he'd know some of it from the radio they'd sent him.

 Harry and Sirius laughed at the letter, happy that Draco Malfoy had met his downfall, but sad that they couldn't be there with them, and wrote back stating such.

 Harry was progressing swiftly with wandless magic, and most often used it when he was in classes, though he was careful to make it look like he was using a wand.

 His teachers were surprised at his sudden swift ease at his lessons, though they simply put it off as lots of practice and more willingness to learn.

 Harry merely smiled when they asked, and said nothing. Secrets were an everyday thing at the Seekers Academy, you were considered odd if you told people anything, so no one bothered to question him to closely – it was well known that people could become angry and often violent when pressed about secrets, though Harry wouldn't.

 It was soon after this that Harry and Sirius progressed to the third level of Seekers Academy, called the Seekers; the only level after this was if you wanted to become a teacher here.

 Wolf was raised with them, and Harry knew that things would have to come to a head between them soon. If Wolf won the inevitable fight, he'd kill Harry, and if Harry won, things would just keep going on. 

 Shadow Master often spoke with Harry and Sirius, though mainly Harry, and everyone knew that Harry one of his few favorites.

 Harry himself didn't know why this was, but the feeling in his mind said that Shadow Master could be trusted. He'd become more accustomed to this as time went on, and now it didn't come in bursts any more, he just had to access it with his mind.

 He could tell the moment anyone lied, though he didn't know what the truth was, and could recognize friend from foe in a heart beat. This was very useful, although since they were in the Seekers Academy knowing when someone was lying was somewhat useless, since everyone nearly always was.

 One day Harry was summoned to Shadow Masters office, though this was not entirely unusual, he was requested to come without Sirius, which had never happened before.

 "What did you want me for?" Harry asked Shadow Master as he entered the room. 

 The other man looked up, and his ghostly lips twitched in a smile that shimmered like moonlight catching on silver, before the cloud once more covered it, and it was gone.  

 "Harry. I wanted to talk to you about this wandless magic you've been using so frequently of late," the man said after a moment.

 Harry very nearly froze, but knew that would only convince Shadow Master that he was correct in his assessment.

 After letting a slightly pause elapse, Harry replied, "what wandless magic, Sir? Surely that's incredibly dangerous?"

 Again that smile ghosted over Shadow Masters face. "You cannot hide it from me. The night I met you, I knew, and do you think that you could hide the gold in your eyes from everyone? Besides the fact that I can feel the magic used here."

 Harry looked up at him. The Shadow Master wasn't lying, he knew that, but should he play along with the game, do what anyone else would do, would say? Or did the Shadow Master know about the truth saying as well?

 "If you are wondering the extent of my knowledge on your powers, it is greater than you would ever think it to be. For the moment I cannot tell you how I know, or why I am telling you this, I'm not sure you are the one that I am looking for, but at the same time, I cannot risk the possibility of being right," Shadow Master seemed to be thinking aloud.

 "What do you mean?" Harry asked him, frowning slightly.

 "I can't tell you just yet. I have to test you first, that's one of the reasons your godfather couldn't come here with you. Come with me," Shadow Master replied, striding away, Harry with a sigh, followed him.

 Shadow Master walked into a large room, the sides covered with all kinds of weapons imaginable.

 He motioned Harry to follow him to the other end of the room, and Harry gasped when he saw a large sword, it had a silver hilt and large emerald in the center of the hilt.

 "That's a blade masters blade!" Harry gasped, seeing a small dragon engraved on the emerald.

 "So you can see it? That's a start," Shadow Master mused, again thinking aloud. "Harry, what I'm going to ask you do to is extremely dangerous."

 "Tell me why I should do it, and what are the dangers?" Harry asked, watching the sword. He felt something of an affinity with the beautiful sword.

 "As you noticed, this is a blade masters blade, but more than that, it is a magical blade that will only allow a chosen one to touch it. Your having the ability to perform wandless magic set you apart as being one of those who _might_ be able to wield it. If you can draw the blade from it's sheathe, I'll know that you are the one."

 "And the danger of this is?" Harry asked, his attention still on the blade.

 "If you aren't the right person, it will turn on you and kill you," Shadow Master replied bluntly.

 "Ah."

 "If you are prepared to take the risk, I would ask you to do it," Shadow Master added.

 "Big request, but I'll do it, the risk is worth the gain, I believe, besides, it's calling me," Harry's eyes were filled with the emerald, it swirled and danced before his eyes as he reached out to rest a hand on the hilt for a moment.   
 Then he wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it from the sheath with a smooth gesture. He smiled in delight, hefting it gently in his hand. This was_ his _sword, the one that he had been looking for, but couldn't find that day when he had had to choose the right blade for himself.

 "Thank god, you're the one," Shadow Master looked and sounded very relieved. "I hoped it was you!"

 "Now can you explain what you couldn't before?" Harry asked. 

 "Some of it. It starts a long time ago, when I was about fifty. That's almost four hundred years ago now …" the man said, and for once Harry could see his eyes, the pale white iris's seemed lost in memory.

 "For four hundred years I have ruled here, it seems like other have come and gone, but it was only me. I have mastered the art of using illusions to make myself seem dead, or alive, at will. I leave a copy in my place, come in looking like a young boy, fight my way up to the top and stay there until once more I repeat the process."

 Harry didn't really hear the last bit, he was too busy mouthing: Four hundred and fifty years old … with an expression of utter disbelief.

 Shadow Master paused to look at him. "Oh of course, you wouldn't know! Once a wizard reaches maturity, this comes at different points for different people, with different reasons, he or she stops aging, as a Muggle will. Time passes slower, different speeds for different people. It took me a longer time than most to begin to slow, but I aged slower since then," he explained. "Your own head master, Albus Dumbledore, is one hundred and fifty," he added.

 Harry blinked. "I can believe that," he said after a moments thought. "So what has this got to do with me?"

 "I am a bit like you, I have a gift of wandless magic, but instead of being on the good side, as you were, I was stolen by a dark wizard of the time, and raised as his own son.

 "It took me a long time to discover that I'd been lied to all my life, and when I did, I destroyed the whole lot of them. I came here when I realized what I'd done was no better than what they had been. I lived here and found that this was my place in life, and I haven't left since, until I came to get you.

 "Every so often, and the time varies, a person is born with powers like ours, for different reasons, most often to do battle with dark wizards."  
 "But why can't any wizard do that? I mean, any person could have sacrificed themselves for their child, couldn't they?" Harry referred to his first encounter with Voldemort.

 "Certainly, but that is not the point. You did not fully destroy Voldemort that night because you had yet to come to your full powers, which was what Voldemort was trying to prevent that night and every time since then that he's faced you," Shadow Master explained.

 "Your powers are different to most light wizards because they have darkness in them. You don't know the half of what you can do – you've certainly noticed that you can see properly now, but you can see better at night than anyone else can.

 "I'll teach more that you can do over the next little while, but I am approaching my proper death now, and so there are some things that you'll have to work out for yourself," Shadow Master finished.

 Harry blinked, trying to imagine a world without Shadow Master. This had become as difficult as it had been to picture a world without Dumbledore just the year before.

 Shadow Master smiled as if sensing Harry's thoughts. "Keep the sword though, it won't leave you now. You will find its twin at some point, I hope, one that has a gold hilt with a ruby," he added. 

 Harry froze. "I've already seen that, held it even. Back when I was twelve, it came out of the Sorting Hat to help me defeat a basilisk," he said, eyes widening as he remembered. "But I didn't see the dragon on the stone?" It was half question, half statement.

 "You hadn't come to your powers yet," Shadow Master said after a moment. "This won't happen until a short time before or after your fifteenth birthday, and until such a time, you won't see the dragon."

 Harry nodded, and left at Shadow Masters nod of consent, immediately leaping to a run to go and tell Sirius what had just happened to him.

 He saw no one on his journey through the castle, which was good, because it would be hard to explain how he had gotten the sword that he now wore at his hip.

 When he reached his room, Sirius was pacing anxiously, and looked up immediately when Harry entered. It took him a moment to notice sword, and when he did, he nearly passed out.

 "How did you get that?" He asked when he got control of himself again. Harry sat down on the bed, motioning Sirius to take the chair, and told the story of what had just happened to him.

 By the end of it Sirius had lost the ability to use coherent speech and his mouth was gaping open in amazement. "Oh my god. This is unbelievable!" He gasped.

 "I know," Harry agreed. "But I don't fully understand what it means, the bit about darkness as well as light. Certainly I can see in the shadows, but that's not really _using shadows in magic, is it?"_

 "I've heard something about this," Sirius said after a moment. "Seeing the dark isn't all you'll be able to do, once you realise your powers and learn how to use them properly."

 "Oh. So when Shadow Master teaches me how to use my powers, a lot of that will be to do with shadows and darkness and stuff?" Harry half ask, half stated.

 "Yeah, something like that. But let's have a look at that sword of yours kid," Sirius said with a shrug. Harry nodded and drew the fantastic blade from its sheath, giving it a flourish. 

 It felt wonderful in his hand, its gleaming silver blade catching the light and throwing it back, dancing over the walls.

 Sirius smiled. "It goes with you," he remarked looking at the sword in his godson's hand. "But you'll need to disguise it, because I don't think that anyone would think that was an ordinary sword."

 "Yeah, you're right," Harry agreed, frowning at the sword in his hand. Abruptly a shimmering golden light surrounded it and suddenly the blade was dulled slightly and the hilt became silver, the stone disappeared.

 Sirius smiled. "No one would guess. The blade is good and the balance perfect, it still goes with you and no one's going to think that sword is a blade master's blade."  
 "Well, that was the point," Harry remarked, smiling. "Now, I think that we've been playing nice around here for too long now, and it's time to get started on pranks," he added after a moments thought.

 "Wolf." Sirius said immediately, and Harry nodded with an evil grin. "Well, what can we do to our young friend Wolf …" Sirius mused to himself.

 "How about making his fur fluro colours, so that it changes from one to another every time he changes, but he appears as normal when in human form?" Harry suggested after a moments thought.

 "You are truly a Marauders son, Panther," Sirius remarked. "It's perfect!"

 "I think that I should be the one to perform it, because I don't have to speak the words," Harry said. 

 "Yeah, whatever," his godfather agreed. "I've done enough performing of pranks, you need the practice."

 Harry laughed and the pair of them went on to practicing. Once you reached the level of Seeker lessons were not needed, you simply went wherever you felt like going. You could ask for aid with various subjects you weren't good at, but between them, Sirius and Harry were the top of the school.

 They were doing physical work today, horse riding, sword fighting, unarmed combat skills, archery and the like. This was Harry's forte, though Sirius was improving quickly.

 Tomorrow it would Sirius's turn to be the tutor as they went inside and practiced spells for various uses. Sirius taught Harry ones that he would be learning in Hogwarts this year, since Seekers Academy only taught spells that would be needed in their line of work.

 First, however, they went back over the ones from the previous years, since Harry hadn't learnt half of them properly. The look of pride in Sirius's eyes was enough to make Harry try as hard as he could to master the spells, first with a wand and then without, since without was easier and he wanted to learn them both ways.

 Harry kicked the giant black stallion that was his, courtesy of Shadow Master, to a gallop, hurtling ahead of Sirius, who was not all to sure that he liked being off the ground on something that wasn't a broomstick.

 Harry felt as at home here as he had done on his broomstick, and he knew that he would feel the same on the back of any creature, including a hippogriff, though he had not been very comfortable on that particular animals back the few times he'd found himself in that predicament.

 He heard Sirius yelling for him to slow down but, like any self- expecting teenager, didn't pay any attention to his godfather's yells.

 He saw a large break in the earth in front of him, and realized why Sirius had been yelling for him to come back, but it was too late now. Oh well, it wasn't _too_ far to get to the other side …

 Harry settled himself posed for the jump, felt Midnight – the stallion's given name – tense, muscles flexing beneath him, and then they were airborne, before landing neatly on the other side.

 Harry brought Midnight around and to a halt, raising his hand in Sirius's direction with a faint smile. Sirius looked like he was about to have a heart attack, or had just recovered from one, perhaps.

 "Panther! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled across the chasm. Harry shrugged slightly. 

 "You want me to come back?" He called back.

 "Yes, but don't you dare jump again!" Sirius said in warning, knowing that was exactly what Harry had had in mind. Harry grinned and willed what he needed to appear. A moment later there was a stone bridge stretched across the chasm and Harry nudged Midnight to a gallop over it to join his godfather on the other side.

  Sirius nodded his thanks for Harry's slightly saner act of re-crossing the chasm, even as Harry dismissed the bridge behind him, which immediately collapsed into the crack in the ground.

 A disconcerting amount of time passed before it hit the bottom with a sickening crash.

 "That could have been you," Sirius remarked to Harry, wincing at the sound. Harry only gave him a cold look.

 "My animagus form does have wings," he pointed out waspishly, making his godfather laugh. 

 "Just the sort of thing that I'd say," Sirius remarked. "Or I would have at your age, anyway." 

 Harry smiled slightly and they turned for home, as they'd gotten quite far away from the Seekers Academy on their little ride, and it would take them a while to get back if they moved at an easy pace.

 Back at Hogwarts the Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch match was fast approaching, and in the history of Hogwarts, no one could remember a match approaching with such a high level of anger and dislike between the houses.

 Ron and Hermione were escorted to classes by all of the Gryffindors going in that direction, since the Slytherins largely blamed these two people for the loss of their Seeker, and the person who was most likely going to be the captain this year.

 Outside of classes, Cho Chang, Ernie, Hannah and their groups of friends accompanied them.

 They were never alone for a second, because the Slytherins would have all sorts of nasty surprises if they ever caught Ron and Hermione without people around them.

 The day of the match dawned and everyone but the Slytherins came out in Gryffindor colours. Gryffindor had made firm friends with the rest of the houses in the school since Harry had gone.

 After a few words from Cho and the two Hufflepuff's, no one in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff believed that Harry had killed Cedric Diggory, and with the reappearance of Voldemort, this had become all the more obvious.

 Lucius Malfoy was searching for Harry Potter, saying that the boy needed to know that he had been forgiven, but none of Ron and Hermione's ever-growing group were buying it.

 "He just wants Harry to give to Voldemort," was what they all believed.

 Naturally the teachers had been delighted by the alliance between the three houses, though it was a little sad, in their eyes, that the Slytherins hadn't been included in this. Though it was not altogether unexpected.

 Now Ron, Hermione, Cho, Ernie and Hannah had the best seats in the stadium, friends arrayed all around them to watch the game. The two teams came out onto the field, the new Keeper turned out to be a Seventh Year kid that neither Ron nor Hermione knew very well.

 As usual, Lee Jordan was commentating, and they were all looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

 "And here comes the Gryffindors! Give them a cheer folks!" The stadium exploded with noise to show their support for the team. This had all been organized between the houses, and everyone knew what to do next.

 "Here are the Slytherins! Show them what we think of them guys!" Again there was as roar of noise, the 'boo's' from one third of the crowd easily drowning out the cheers from the Slytherins.

 With a glare at the majority of the crowd, the Slytherin team took up positions around Madam Hooch to hear what she had to say before the game.

 The crowd couldn't hear a word of what she said, she spoke too quietly, but soon the two captains shook hands, all the while glaring daggers at one another, before mounting and taking off.

 Whenever the Slytherin got the Quaffle or tried to block a shot from the Gryffindors, the crowd (excluding the Slytherins) all booed very loudly. This didn't distract the Gryffindors, who'd been practicing playing with noise in the background. The Slytherins, however, were constantly surprised and distracted by the wave of sound, and subsequently didn't do too well.

 Then the Seekers spotted the Snitch – the Slytherin Seeker was a second year boy who was no good at flying. It was him, someone worse or having to forfeit the game. The Slytherins hadn't wanted to do any of these, but this was the lesser evil. 

 Dennis hurtled for the ground at the fastest speed his broom could go, way ahead of the Slytherin boy, who was descending by shots of speed, before pulling back as if afraid that he'd fall. 

 This made the younger Creevey brother the easy leader, and passed the victory of Gryffindor at 300 to 10. It had to be a record for the score, everyone thought, no one could remember a game against Slytherin ever going so well, and the other three houses called a giant party for it in the Great Hall, since they all had different common rooms.

 The Slytherins slunk back to the dungeons as soon as they finished eating, as did Snape. The rest of the teachers watching in amusement as the dinner escalated into a party that Hogwarts had never seen the like of before.

 In the end it was just Dumbledore who was left presiding over the groups of rowdy children, all the other teachers save Fleur had long since retired, and the old Headmaster was too kind hearted to send the children off to bed.

 Besides, young Fleur was having the time of her life, dancing with students, eating and drinking, laughing and generally having a great time – although she came back to Dumbledore's side when some idiot had the idea to start a food fight, an idea which was met the great approval of the rest of the crowd, and was still in full swing almost an hour later.

 It was two in the morning when the first students began to head from the hall; the first and second years mostly, and by five only Ron, Hermione, Ernie, Hannah, Cho and their group of closer friends, as well as Fleur, remained awake and moving.

 Dumbledore wandered off at six, and everyone else finally went and collapsed after the first people came down to breakfast at seven. It was mainly Slytherins, since they'd actually gotten a proper nights sleep, but the group of friends didn't care to be in the same room as their enemies, besides the fact that they'd pretty much partied themselves out by this time.

Back at the Seekers Academy, Harry was trying out the latest spell he and Sirius had been working on – making himself invisible. This was not only a test run of the spell, but also the time to play their prank on Wolf.

 They'd added a new part to their plan of embarrassment, and Harry was looking forward to the next morning, when he would probably see Wolf in the training courts, since the other young man would most likely not realize what was wrong with him until too late.

 Once the spells had been placed, Harry slipped away, heading to Shadow Masters quarters, where his mentor was waiting to give him his first proper lesson in powers that he could use.

 "Panther!" Nice to see you again!" Shadow Master said, the light catching his lip in a ghostly smile.

 Harry smiled back. He didn't distrust Shadow Master anymore, the man was almost a friend, which surprised him, because he'd spent the first part of his time here hating the man, for no real reason, other than that he disliked the things that the school taught.

 "Hey Shadow Master," he greeted his teacher in return, bowing his head slightly.

 "Well, as we've no time to waste, I'll jump straight to the heart of the matter. I know that you have a book on Elementals in your room," Harry didn't even look surprised that the man knew, since Shadow Master knew almost everything that happened in his domain.

 "It tells you that there are four kinds of elements, and that people can control one, and sometimes more of these. Am I right?"

 Harry nodded his head in answer of the question. "Well, the author of that book doesn't know all he thinks he knows about Elementals. In fact, very few people know all that there is to know about Elementals. I am the only one of those few people who is still alive at the moment. You will know all soon enough, once I have the opportunity to teach it all to you, which could take a while.

 "What that author knows nothing about is the existence of another Elemental – the Elemental Soul, or Life. This Elemental is one that deals with what we have named Light and Shadow, Life and Death, Good and Evil. They are, in reality, the same thing.

 "Your destiny sets you apart as one who will become an Elemental Mage, someone who can control _all of the Elements. Of course, such a person must have the training to do this, because you can nothing with your powers until they have been awoken._

 "In every person the power of the Elementals is there, but in most it is dormant. Some are born with the ability to break through a part of this wall, but some can have the power awoken.

 "For most people, such a spell would mean death, but as you can use wandless magic, therefore the power of the spell shouldn't do more than put you to sleep for several hours and leave you with a slight headache. Not too much to ask for the power of the Elements, I don't think."

 "Can you perform this spell?" Harry asked Shadow Master after a moments thought. The man was right, a little sleep and a headache was certainly of no account if it would help him save the world from Voldemort.

 "Of course," the man responded, pretending to be put out by Harry's question. "I would hardly have brought the matter up if I didn't possess a means to perform it."

 Harry nodded his head in acknowledgment of his mistake, though in reality, he had known perfectly well the answer to his question and that the question itself would vex Shadow Master. He was a fifteen year old, after all.

 "So when will you perform the spell?" Harry asked now, a faint smile playing at his lips.

 "Now, if you like. Sleeping in the nighttime shouldn't cause too much of a bother, and you'll wake up when you normally do," Shadow Master replied.

 "Sounds good to me," Harry agreed with a slight shrug, though he wouldn't have agreed if he hadn't been assured of being awake for his prank tomorrow. 

 Harry stood completely still as Shadow Master placed a hand on his forehead, then there was a biting pain in the back of his skull and he fell unconscious to the floor.

 Shadow Master waved a hand and the unconscious body disappeared from his quarters.

********************************************************

That seems as good a place as any to end the chapter, wouldn't you think? Well, please review, chapter seven should be along soon enough.

Thanks To:

Jordan, PR LUCKEN, wquad, Katrina, Rachel A. Prongs, Shdurrani, Clare, LoMaRiBa, Katy999, Them Girl, beachbabe, Songbreeze Swifteye, Myrddin Ambrosius, Maxie, CatatonicReaction, AtheneLupin, Maxx77, Anaxandra, Mr. Happy Java Man, Queen of the Jungle, Dog Stars Crush, anz-devil-999

~WolfMoon~


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Seven:

 Ron and Hermione were sitting in History of Magic, paying very little attention to what Professor Binns was saying – they could look it up in the library later anyway.

 "Do you think James is ok?" Hermione asked Ron. "He hasn't owled us for a while." They'd both gotten used to using this name when they were talking about Harry, since people would begin to wonder why they kept talking about Harry as if they were in contact with him – their new friends didn't seem the type to be spies, but in these times, who could tell?

 "I don't know. He's obviously been busy with Peter, so maybe we'll hear from them soon," Ron replied after a moments thought. Hermione sighed and nodded in agreement. They both missed their other friend, it was the first time they'd been parted in school, after all.

At that moment Harry was lying on his bed, where he had disappeared after his ordeal in Shadow Masters chambers and the awakening of his powers.

 He stayed in this unconscious world of sleep until early next morning. He awoke when Sirius came into the room to get him out of bed and down to the training courts to witness Wolf's humiliation.

 Harry jumped up and dressed in the robes that Seekers wore – black with a silver dragon in a circle which was completed by the fire that it was breathing, they were more like a cloak, showing the black leather pants and top which had the same dragon on the chest. The arms flared out with a band of silver around the edge and black boots made from dragon hide which were flexible and good to wear when fighting.

 The black was a little overwhelming at first, but after a while you got used to it. Harry barely even noticed it any more, unconsciously he checked the throwing knives hidden at his wrists, in the tops of his boots and various other places.

 Then he bounded out of the room, Sirius at his side, heading for the training courts. A glance flashed between the two of them, and a quick message using their sign language, then the pair of them shifted form and raced along the corridors.

 People of the Seekers Academy were accustomed to animals running through the hallways, so no one really minded. The pair of them carreed into the hall, stopping to catch their breath as they dropped back into the shadows. 

 Harry quickly put up an invisibility charm around them, since Wolf would immediately be suspicious if he saw them there watching him. They changed back to human form so that they could communicate with each other using their hand language.

 A moment later Wolf appeared looking tired and half asleep – everyone knew that the young man was a slow waker, and would spend half of the morning waking up as he practiced with weapons in silence and alone.

 Harry used a spell that Sirius had taught him with this in mind, suddenly haunting laughter seemed to fill the air around Wolf, even as the man stumbled.

 "Who laughed?" Wolf demanded, spinning around, eyes filled with cold rage. This only made the people who were actually there laugh at him – his voice was high and squeaky, as if he was breathing helium.

 Wolf gave a high pitched shriek of fury, and those who were present laughed and taunted him. When he couldn't take it any more, he changed form and hurtled from the room, which made more laughter, since his hide was flashing fluro colours.

 Wolf didn't notice this, however, until he got back to his room and saw himself in the mirror. Sirius and Harry, who'd been tailing him, arrived just in time to hear his explosion when he saw himself.

 Giggling softly to themselves, the two pranksters slipped away back to their own rooms. Harry stayed only for a time, to explain to Sirius what had happened with Shadow Master the night before. Sirius was a little peeved that Harry had been knocked out, but conceded that it had been worth the gain.

 Harry then left to head for Shadow Masters quarters, using the invisibility spell, since Wolf was sure to think (and rightly so) that Harry had been behind the mornings embarrassments.

 It was a good thing that he did use the spell, because sure enough, Wolf turned up, snarling under his breath and looking incredibly murderous.

 Harry managed to slip past the other man and arrived not long after at Shadow Masters door. The door opened at his knock and Harry hurried inside.

 "Ah Harry, good to see you up on your feet!" Exclaimed Shadow Master, with that freaky ghost of a smile on his face. "I take that what with this mornings embarrassment of Wolf you haven't eaten?"

 Harry didn't look embarrassed at the fact that Shadow Master knew of his prank, since it was considered the 'done thing' to prank on your classmates. "No, I didn't eat," he agreed.

 "Then why don't you join me for some breakfast, we can get started on the lesson afterwards, I've found that it always helps to be refreshed."  
 Harry merely nodded and sat down opposite his teacher, who waved a hand over the table. Immediately plates of food appeared on the table and Shadow Master dug in with a will that didn't quite match Harry's, though it was a near thing.

 It was some time before they were full, but the moment they both were, it was standing up and on with the lesson.

 "It will take a long time for you to progress, I think, because you are much younger than those who usually come to the calling. But oh well, we'll start with something easy. I want you to make a flame – Elemental Magic works on the same principle as Wandless Magic – just will it to happen, and if your will is strong enough, you will succeed. Flame should be easy for you, as Leo is a fire sign."

 Harry frowned slightly, quickly making sure that he understood what Shadow Master was saying. He did, because he had read something along the lines of that before.

 "Where do you want the fire?" He asked after a moment. Shadow Master thought a moment, then, with a shrug, pointed in the direction of the fire place. 

Harry nodded and concentrated on the area in which he wanted the fire to appear. Finding fire in his mind, he thought of the good times he, Ron and Hermione had had sitting before the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, and called the flame to him.

 He was sweating, it was rolling down his face, stinging his eyes, he raised a hand and wiped it away, but it was just replaced by more. With an inner shrug, he pushed the discomfort away and concentrated harder.

 A few moments later a flame appeared, just some at first, dancing, flickering, almost dying and then coming back to life. With a will hardened by practice of Wandless magic, Harry made the flame grow till it was to big to be blown out by blowing on it.

 Shadow Master applauded. "Well done! That is the quickest I've ever seen someone master that, but then, most of those I've seen haven't ever practiced Wandless magic for some time before hand. Now, I want you to put it out, that should be fairly simple, but don't use Wandless magic, you must dismiss it with Elemental magic for it to be truly gone, and trust me, I will know the difference."

 Harry nodded slightly, he had read about that too. Elemental Magic followed a very strict code of rules, stricter even than those for magic with a wand.

 He found the memory of the fire he had called in his mind, and, speaking the words aloud said: "Fire of my creation, I set you free."

 Immediately, like a candle in a sudden gust of wind, the fire was gone. Shadow Master smiled again. "Well done, though by the time I finish with you, you will not have to speak the words aloud.

 "Now, as fire is you Element, we will not work much on it for now, but rather on its opposing force – Water. This will be a lot harder for you to master, because it is the opposite of your very nature."

 Harry swallowed nervously and looked at Shadow Master. "Now don't look like that! You have to master the hardest things first, and then move on to the easiest so that you don't try to take short cuts or getting frustrated because you can't make something work this way, when it was so easy the other!"

 Harry nodded, seeing sense in this.

 "Ok, now I want you to make a fire using Wandless magic, _not_ Elemental magic, because that has to be dismissed, not put out."

 Harry nodded, realizing where this was going, and reached out with his mind, calling on the Wandless magic which immediately set about trying to pull free of his control. 

 When he had first started, he'd hardly noticed this, because he didn't know what to look for, but know, he could sense it easily. With practiced ease, he called up a fire and let the power – and the struggle – go.

 "Well done. Now I want you to put it out by creating water and dousing it," Shadow Master said.

 Harry winced slightly. He'd been hoping that wouldn't be his task – but hope doesn't get you anywhere, you have to go out and do something about it, or so his teachers had drilled into his skull in the months that he had been here.

 Settling down comfortably, Harry focused on water, calling up memories of the lake at Hogwarts, the triumph he had felt when he had pulled Gabrielle and Ron both from their prison at the bottom, the memories of just sitting with his friends, staring of the water, or watching Fred, George and their friend Lee Jordan teasing the giant squid.

 Of skipping across the lake in small boats, arriving at Hogwarts for the first time. He smiled, not letting himself remember the bad times that had come there too.

 Suddenly he jerked upright, soaked from head to foot from the tidal wave that had just appeared out of nowhere. Shadow Master cleared the room up with a laugh and a wave of his hand.

 "I see we need to work on your control there, Panther!" He remarked. Harry, however, was just trying to stand up. This simple act seemed to a be a little beyond him at present.

 "Don't try to move, Panther. The effort of today's lesson has used up all of your readily available energy, and some of your back up as well. You'll need to rest for a while before you can move around again. I'll transport you down to your room, and I suggest you go straight to sleep. You won't wake up until tomorrow morning, unless you get hungry tonight."

 Harry blinked. "I'm fine! Really! I don't need to …" he tried to stand up again, and fell down, now unable to move, as he didn't have the energy to force his limbs to do what he was asking.

 "No your not," Shadow Master said with a soft laugh, and waved a hand, and immediately Harry was lying on his own bed. He did not have the energy to stand up and undress, and therefore fell asleep fully clothed.

 When he woke it was evening and Sirius was sitting beside his bed. Harry blinked. "How long have I slept for?" He asked.

 "It's evening today," Sirius replied. "You've been asleep since this morning. What happened?"

 Harry told him, between bites of the food that that had been sitting beside his bed. When he'd finished, Sirius sighed. "I hate it when you have to get hurt," he remarked. "But you need the lessons, so I can't do anything about it except take care of you when your like this. Go back to sleep kid, you'll get better faster."

 Harry was about to argue, but before he could make his brain think of the right words, he was asleep again.

 Sirius smiled and tucked the blankets around his godsons sleeping form before heading to his own room for a  while.

 On the following morning Harry woke up feeling full of energy again, although his limbs were sluggish. He dragged himself out of bed and headed for the practice courts. There was no one around, as it was still about four o'clock in the morning. Harry, having slept the last two days away, didn't really feel he needed any more at present.

  After almost an hour of putting himself through his paces with various weapons and forms of unarmed combat, Harry retired to his room again, completely tired out, to read for a while.

 When the sun rose, so did Sirius, coming to check on his godson and somewhat put out that Harry had gone for a training session after yesterdays events.

 "Well I have to keep in shape, and I can't do that if I'm lying around here, can I?" Was Harry's cool response, as he turned the page in the book he was reading.

 Sirius rolled his eyes. "You have to be careful though. If you try to do things to fast, you won't heal right, you'll make things worse, not better!"

 "I know that, Padfoot! I have had a lot of practice at being sick or injured – too much if you ask me, but oh well," Harry snapped back.

 Sirius sighed ruefully. "Sorry kid, I don't mean to interrogate you, but you worry me when you get hurt. I now know what my parents felt like, and wish that I'd behaved better for them."

 Harry smiled at his godfather. "I'm sure I'll say the same thing to my child some day," was his only response, going back to the book he was reading.

 Sirius sighed and wandered out to go and eat breakfast in his own room, which the house elves would have brought up. Harry's own breakfast would be delivered soon enough.

 Besides, this book was interesting. It was one of Sirius's, and detailed several difficult spells. Harry couldn't do any of them as yet, with or without Wandless magic, but memorizing spells before you needed them was always helpful, that way when you did need them, you didn't have to learn them.

 Harry turned the pages of the book, lost in a world of spells and enchantments that he didn't notice breakfast come, though he did come out of his daze when lunch time came and the breakfast was replaced with the next meal.

 He attacked the food, starving, although he hadn't noticed it when he was reading. Books did that sometimes now. After he'd eaten, he did a small practice in his room, he was limited by the space, as neither he nor Sirius had gotten around to requesting larger quarters now that they were Seekers.

 They'd have to do that, he decided after a moments thought. It would be much easier practicing if he didn't have an entire audience commenting on what moves he was making – it was very distracting.

 In fact, he decided to act on the spot, since he would be having a strictly theory lesson with Shadow Master today, after yesterdays action. He couldn't handle being knocked out every second day.

 He left his rooms using the Invisibility cloak, since he didn't want to tire himself out with performing Wandless magic in his current state.

 Shadow Master was all to happy to provide larger rooms for Sirius and Harry, making sure that they were next to each other, in fact, they turned out to be right beside Shadow Masters, so that Harry didn't have to running all over the gigantic building for lessons. 

 "You can use my training court, but you'll have your own coming off your room – I can make it one large one that comes off both your rooms, if you'd like?"  
 "Yes please," Harry agreed immediately, since he and Sirius generally trained together anyway. 

 "Now, we have a lot of work to get through – I need to know that you understand the principles behind Elemental and Wandless magic, because if you don't, you could easily kill yourself, and then where would the world be?"

 Harry nodded, and they spent the next several hours going over all of his knowledge. Harry felt somewhat worn out after the questioning, and accepted Shadow Masters offer of transportation back to his room, so that he could tell Sirius that they were moving. Shadow Master also decided to come with him and transport all of their things to the new rooms, rather than making them carry it, since it was quite a journey.

 His excuse was that Harry wasn't up to it, but Harry knew perfectly well that it was because Shadow Master wanted to help him. They'd become friends, not great friends, but definitely friends over the last few days. 

 They were bound together by destinies that were quite alike, and Shadow Master was the only one Harry could really talk to, the only one who'd properly understand what he was saying, be able to give advice.

 Sirius was delight – if wary – to accept the aid, and happy to be moving into a larger room. He wasn't quite so glad to know that it was beside Shadow Masters rooms, but understood the reason behind it and agreed that it was the best arrangement for Harry, and he was not leaving Harry, so they would both be there.

 The pair of them spent the rest of the day arranging their meager belongings in the much roomier quarters. The amount of space seemed somewhat daunting to Harry, having spent most of his life in a cupboard, then the shared dormitories at school, the smallest bedroom in Privet Drive and the tiny apartments that beginners were housed in when they first arrived in the Seekers Academy.

 There was so much space, even with everything that Harry owned – he could have fitted ten times as much stuff and have plenty of room left. This made him somewhat embarrassed, since he knew that most people his age would have belongings falling out of the wardrobes and cupboards. Oh well, he couldn't help that. 

 He spent the next hour in the training court that joined onto both his and Sirius's rooms, but was forced to leave when Sirius turned up and chased him back into his room to rest.

 Harry ate all of the dinner that the house elves brought up for him and then curled up on the large four poster bed in front of the fire to read for a while.

 He fell asleep there, book still in hand, and slept easily till morning, when he awoke before dawn to practice again. This time it was not Sirius who made him stop, but Shadow Master, who asked him to come and have breakfast and then have a lesson.

 This set the pattern for the next week, always one of the adults would turn up to make sure that Harry wasn't tiring himself out to much. In his lessons with Shadow Master they covered huge amounts of theory, and with Sirius he learnt easy spells that he hadn't been able to grasp before he learnt of his ability in Wandless magic.

 Now that the Elemental Magic had been awoken in his blood, Harry was able to do magic with a wand easier as well, as if that ability had also been properly awoken.

 When he asked Shadow Master about it, the other man had looked thoughtful. "Yes, that could be it actually, Harry. The spell is used to awaken any dormant abilities, and perhaps you were being hindered by the fact that because of your abilities in Wandless magic, your use of a wand was limited because it hadn't properly developed…"

 Back in the wizarding world, times where harsh. Attacks from Voldemort were a daily happening and the terror that had reigned before Harry's first defeat of Voldemort had returned in full force.

 No one from the school was allowed to leave, the Ministry decreed that none of the students should return home, as the train presented far to much of a target.

 Hermione's parents had become the first of an ever growing amount of deceased people, half of them parents of Muggle born and half bloods from Hogwarts.

 The Prefects soon were given the job of comforting those who were affected by the terror that went unchecked beyond the walls of the castle.

 Hermione was one of those often called upon, since she had lost her own parents, and could be more understanding of the things that should and should not be said.

 Lucius Malfoy was the hero in everyone's eyes, he could sometimes predict an attack coming and defend against it – such defenses always worked perfectly and had a complete victory over the Death Eater forces.

 He came in after attacks and took care of the wounded. It was only those who knew his son and knew about him being a Death Eater who didn't believe that he was the hero everyone else saw. They couldn't do anything about it though.

 Then there was a death in Hogwarts. Katie Bell, one of the Chasers on the Quidditch team, started refusing to eat, grieving for her family who'd all been killed in an attack a short time before.

 They had a funeral service in Hogwarts which even the Slytherins attended. After a short period in which the Gryffindors grieved for their friend and house mate, tests were held to replace her on the Quidditch team, because there wasn't another person to take over from her.

 Everyone was happy when it was Ron who got the position. Ron got a real taste of fame when everyone congratulated him on his win and gave him support saying that he'd do great in his first game. Ron, however, finally found out why Harry could never sleep the night before a match. It was against Hufflepuff.

 On the day of the match, the teachers witnessed another spectacle they never thought that they would. Apart from the Slytherins who came, as always, without colours, the rest of the school was dressed in red, gold, yellow and black, the colours for _both of the teams playing that day._

 Throughout the game they saw much of the same thing, the crowd cheered when either team got a goal, yelled encouragement no matter who had the Quaffle.

 In the end the Gryffindors won, though it was neck and neck until the Snitch was caught. Both teams had the same score until that stage. Gryffindor one 250-100. Ron had scored many of the goals, playing by the Gryffindor teams strategy. He stayed down at their end of the pitch and waited for the Quaffle to come up his way, got the ball from one of the two girls and scored.

 The whole school again had a celebration, the Slytherins leaving early in disgust, it continued well into the night once again, though they went to bed earlier than the last time.

 It was two days later that a letter arrived from "James".

 _Hey guys,_

_ Guess what! I might be able to drop in a see you for a little while! I'll bring Peter too. We have to go and get some stuff from Diagon Alley, and I've just sent a letter to Professor Dumbledore asking if we can come and stay for one night before heading back in the morning. I'd stay longer but I'm a bit busy here at the moment. When I've finished what I'm doing, we'll be back for good, I hope. _

_ Well, hopefully I'll see you soon,_

_James_

 "Yes!" Yelled Ron, delighted at the prospect of seeing his friend again. The others who they'd trusted with the information of who Harry was were happy as well, eager to meet the boy that had disappeared months before.

 Harry himself was practicing Elemental Magic with Sirius watching over him to make sure he didn't try anything stupid. This was annoying, but Harry saw the sense in having an older wizard to make sure he didn't do something wrong.

 Sirius knew very little about Elemental Magic, but he knew enough to help Harry with what he was doing now.

 Harry was progressing fast in his studies, Sirius was helping him learn some spells from a seventh year text book, and each spell he master took him a less time.

 "It won't be long before you can leave here like the rest of the Seekers usually do," Shadow Master remarked, and Harry felt a pang in his chest. This place had come to mean as much to him as Hogwarts had, he was accepted here, not because he was famous, but because he was good. He didn't have friends, because this was not a place to make friends, but he had respect. Respect that he'd _earned_ not that was given to him for something that he didn't remember.

 None of these emotions showed on his face as he nodded in agreement. "I'll come back often," he said. "It'll be a long time before I know all that I need to know about my magic."

 "Of course," Shadow Master agreed, inclining his head. "But some of that you'll have to learn on your own, I won't be here for much longer, remember. But I've given you a lot of what you need to find things out for yourself."

 Harry felt a lump rising his throat at the thought of losing Shadow Master. It was hard to believe that he'd once not liked the man in the least.

 Harry could do many things with water now, summoning it was the least of his abilities. He worked well with air, and had just begun focusing his lessons on earth.

 Shadow Master was right, Harry had already begun experimenting with different things outside of classes, and he knew many things which he wanted to try, but hadn't found the time yet.

 Almost every day Harry slipped out of his rooms under an invisibility spell to watch Wolf. The other man was becoming very annoyed by Harry's continued absence. He hadn't found out that Harry and Sirius had moved rooms, or where they'd moved to. 

 No one knew, since neither Harry nor Sirius had been seen leaving their rooms to take their stuff to a new ones nor had anyone seen them leave their new rooms – neither of them had had reason to leave. 

 Harry knew that before he left, he'd have to fight Wolf. Wolf would die that day – Harry wouldn't kill him, but he would beat him. And once he was beaten, every one of those who dislike Wolf for things that had happened in the past would fall on him like wolves on a wounded deer.

 Shaking himself free of these thoughts, Harry concentrated on the task at hand. Shadow Master wanted him to try and do two different things with Elementals.

 He'd only ever handled one of the elements on its own, so this was going to be hard. He'd be concentrating on two different things. Harry closed his eyes to concentrate better. He was going to try and make a fire, keep it going and at the same time have a _gentle breeze flowing through the room._

 A moment later he felt the fire appear in the hearth beside him, and, keeping as much attention on it as he dared, he moved his thoughts to the wind.

 Almost immediately the fire went out, and Harry gave a mental curse before deciding to try it the other way. He brought the wind up, careful to make sure it wasn't too strong. Keeping almost all of his attention on the wind, he called the seed of fire that still remained where he'd had it going before.

 It came up again, eager to answer his call and, for a moment, he had them both, before his control slipped and the wind, tried to go on a wild rampage around the rooms. Immediately he dismissed the air Elementals before releasing the fire.

 "Well done!" Cried Shadow Master, smiling happily. "Very good! Don't try that without me there to watch you, by the way, there's no telling how much damage you might do."

 Harry nodded his head. "Promise me," Shadow Master demanded and Harry sighed slightly. The moment he promised he _wouldn't be able to try it without Shadow Master being there. It was one of the things about his ability to tell when someone lied – he couldn't lie himself. It was impossible. His magic wouldn't _let_ him do anything that he'd promised not to._

 With a sigh he promised that he wouldn't and Shadow Master smiled lightly at him. "There, that wasn't so hard was it?" He asked teasingly. Harry merely glared at him.

 "Now, you know about the dealings with the Elementals of Air, Fire, Earth and Water. Now you need to learn about the Elementals of Light and Darkness," Shadow Master said.

 Harry's eyes sparkled with eagerness to learn this, the part that he had been leading up to all this time. Shadow Master sighed and began explaining the things that you could do with either of the Elementals. 

 Harry barely listened, so eager to learn. Finally they got to learning things.

 With the Dark Elemental, the first thing Harry did was turn the area around a light to darkness, then, with the aid of Shadow Master, who made a patch of darkness, he created a light to douse the blackness.

 This was where the lesson ended, because it had completely tired Harry out. He was about to head back to his own room and rest for a while before doing some training when Shadow Master spoke.

 "When are you going to fight Wolf?"

 "Tomorrow," Harry said, deciding even as he said it. He had to get this over and done with. 

 Shadow Master sighed. "Be wary. If you get yourself killed, where will the world be? I certainly won't be able to help out. And you needn't attend your lesson the morning, you need to be in shape to face Wolf, he's a crafty opponent."

 Harry nodded and left the room quietly. He slept most of the afternoon to revitalize himself after the mornings activities. Then he got up and called to Sirius. The pair of them did a fairly intense training session before Harry went back to rest before the next days fight.

 When he woke in the morning he felt in perfect shape, he knew that he'd never have a day as good as today to fight. Bounding to his feet he scooped up his sword and wand and slipped into the training courts for a quick practice before leaving and heading for the normal practice courts.

 He was hoping that Wolf would be there, and his hopes were not in vain. It seemed that the other man was waiting for him. When Wolf saw Harry he looked surprised, and Harry smiled grimly to himself. 

 The work over the months since he'd come here had paid off, as had the regular meals. He was no longer the skinny undersized boy who'd arrived in the Seekers Academy. He'd grown taller, he and Wolf were of a height now. His body had hardened by the hard routine that he put it through, and his eyes seemed to have a grim light deep in their green-gold depths.

 Harry wasn't aware of this light, but it made Wolf nervous – the little boy that he could pick on was gone now, replaced by a warrior. Unfortunately for him, he'd bragged to the watching people that he'd fight with Panther today, and win.

 He stepped forward with a gulp, wishing that he had never even thought of fighting the other. He raised his sword. "Hey Panther, let's see how good you are, and what colour your blood is!"

 Harry turned, the expression on his face said that he was surprised that Wolf had had the courage to say this. "If you want to fight me, just say so. Otherwise I'll have to find out what colour _your blood is to get you back for the insult," he said._

 Wolf gave a snarl of almost animal rage and threw himself at Harry. The boy skipped nimbly to the side – he'd worked to maintain more of a gymnasts figure and moved with an athletes speed.

 The other people who were watching the battle called out encouragement to both fighters, but Harry didn't pay it any attention. He didn't bother with yelling insults at Wolf, since he could see the point – Wolf was angry enough already.

 Wolf spun around as he crashed past Harry, sword up and seeking Harry's heart. Harry jumped lightly backwards, spinning swiftly to the side, sword flashing up and around, drawing lightly across Wolf's upper arm just enough to draw blood.

 He continued in this manner, weaving speedily around his enemy, catching tiny cuts to let the other know when he left himself open. Since it was a normal fight, not one that they'd agreed to the manner of fighting, Harry then started using hands and feet to worry at his opponent.

 Wolf's heavy, muscular body was against him, he was trying to keep up with Harry, who was darting in circles around him, lashing out now and then with sword, punch or kick.

 They'd attracted quite an audience by this time, word of a fight past quickly here, and one of those who'd come was Sirius. Harry's godfather watched proudly – he saw no reason to be afraid, having practiced with Harry he knew that his godson was one of the best.

 Finally Harry sent Wolf's sword flying out of his hand to clatter against the wall as it fell. Wolf's eyes flickered to it and back to Harry, desperation in the midst of his hatred.

 Harry finished his opponent off with a swift kick to the side of the head. Wolf dropped like a stone and Harry sheathed his sword smoothly, stalking from the arena formed by human bodies.

 "Aren't you going to finishing him off?" Someone yelled, and the question was repeated several times by various other people. 

 Harry stopped at the door and turned back to face them calmly. "No. I'm not going to kill him – I see no reason to. I have no quarrel with him, if he has a quarrel with me, that's his business, and if you have a quarrel with him, that's your business. I won't step in the way of it. Come on Padfoot, let's go."

 Sirius joined him and the pair of them left to return to their own rooms. "Why did you fight him in the first place?" Sirius asked when they out of earshot.

 "Because things between us had to come to a head sometimes, and it just happened to be now. Besides, it was unfinished business and we couldn't have left until it had happened."

 Sirius nodded in agreement. "Well, come on, let's get back and do some lessons since you aren't tired out from Shadow Masters already." Harry immediately changed form, Sirius right behind him and they raced back to their rooms.

********************************************************

Five thousand eight hundred and ninety words that chapter was, I was _going_ to continue to find a good place to leave a cliffie, but I couldn't think of one, so I guess I'm not gonna have one this time … oh well, next chapter, I promise!

Thanks To:

Smilez, Jordan, PR LUCKEN, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Rachel A. Prongs, Them Girl, Fage of Hyren, Katy999, Tasidia, Anaxandra, Amber Evans Potter, Songbreeze Swifteye, Dog Stars Crush, Katrina, Clare, Honor, Maxx77, Maxx77, BigDaddy753, smilez, Orion, Rave, Stoofie, Thunderjam, PheonixMan, Lord R, Maxennce, Old Fawkes, princess55, and fantasydima__


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight:

 Harry was feeling incredibly guilty – Wolf had died that day, one of the watchers had finished him off. He knew that people got killed here every day, but he wasn't a killer. He wouldn't let himself drop to Voldemort's level – killing for the fun of it.

 Sirius had an uncanny ability to know what Harry was thinking, and he informed Harry that if someone in the crowd had killed Wolf, that wasn't Harry's fault.

 He and Harry both knew that these words made no difference whatsoever, but Harry was thankful for them nonetheless. His lessons were going well with Shadow Master and times were good. 

 Those who hadn't been there when he'd fought with Wolf had heard about it, and no one was going to approach him with a fight after what they'd seen and heard – Harry was fast becoming a legend in the Seekers Academy.

 Everyone now knew that he was studying with the Shadow Master, and no one was going to try and kill one of His favorites. Sirius remained out of sight for the most part; Harry's legendary status had not extended to his godfather. It might have, if they'd known that he was his godfather, but they didn't.

 Progress with Light and Dark Elementals was going well and Harry was happy to be learning new things, for with Sirius they were now forced to just go over the same old things, because Harry had learnt all of the spells that he could learn effortlessly, and Sirius wouldn't let him learn the harder ones, because it was difficult and often dangerous.

 Back at Hogwarts Draco Malfoy was back and in a foul temper. Ron, Hermione and Harry had got him with curses the year before, and his revenge hadn't worked – he was the one who got into trouble.

 Now they had to go back to being careful. They still had potions with the Slytherins, and those lessons had turned into a definite weekly torture lesson.

 Snape was even meaner than he had been before, Ron and Hermione in particular got it bad, since they'd robbed Snape's favorite of his Prefects position and any respect he might have had with the other teachers in the school. 

 The only thing that kept the Gryffindors alive was the fact that they had double Defense Against the Dark Arts after every double potions lesson.

 Fleur didn't like the Slytherins, especially not Malfoy, because she didn't like the fact that he had been so mean to Harry. Fleur had been quite taken with Harry when she'd met him the year before, because he'd done so well against incredible odds, and had helped her by saving her sister.

 Now she was happy to talk to his friends, hear their side of the story, and with Dumbledore telling the same version, believe them too. So Malfoy got in trouble for _any_ little rule that he broke – she didn't go so far as to get him in trouble for something he didn't do, or make up rules that he'd broken, and she did say well done when he got something right.

 They didn't have Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins anymore, and those lessons were much more enjoyable. Ron and Hermione knew that Hagrid wouldn't get into much trouble when it was just the Gryffindors he was teaching, because they'd do as he said and not end up getting hurt because they were stupid.

 Consequently the class was much more fun now, and Hagrid was much more confident in his abilities as a teacher. Ron and Hermione spent a lot of time with him now, having introduced Cho, Ernie and Hannah to him (first warning about his cooking abilities). 

 Hagrid knew the truth (as far as Ron and Hermione knew it) of where Harry was, and about Sirius. He was surprisingly easy to convince about Sirius's innocence, saying that it had been hard to believe it about Sirius.

 When told about Pettigrew, he grew so furious that he could hardly talk, and luckily didn't start yelling. He told them that it had always been much more likely to be Peter than Sirius, and was very annoyed that the 'little rat', which they used as Peter's code name, had escaped justice and put one of his friends there instead.

 Hagrid was eager to help with anything that he could, though he admitted that he couldn't do much. After some begging on their part, he confessed that over the summer he and Madam Maxine had gone and spoken with the giants, who had agreed, while not to join with the Magical Community, not to join with Voldemort either, for the time being.

 The friends were very glad to hear this, since Voldemort hardly needed more allies. He'd gotten the Dementors on his side before he'd even killed Fudge, though no one knew that yet – he told them to stay at Azkaban and act normal, but not to imprison any Death Eaters – give them places of honor inside the buildings instead.

 Lucius pretended that he didn't know any of this, and so the whole magical world was kept in the dark. Dumbledore, however, had a spy in the Death Eater ranks – Ron and Hermione had been forbidden to even say Snape's name when such things were being discussed, since Dumbledore had found out that they knew. 

 Snape had found out all sorts of useful information from the Death Eaters, although he had to be careful. Before he'd fallen, Voldemort and he had made a 'plan' to let Snape become a Professor at Hogwarts. Voldemort told him to tell Dumbledore some things and then take information from Dumbledore back to Voldemort, so he wasn't too suspicious, or wouldn't have been.

 But then Snape hadn't been able to make it to Voldemort's rebirth. Fortunately for him, he managed – with Dumbledore's help – to catch Karkaroff and take him to Voldemort's next meeting.

 He convinced Voldemort that he'd seen Karkaroff slipping away when the mark burned, and followed, telling his companions that he wanted to talk to the Headmaster of the other school.

 Then he'd realized that Karkaroff was not going to Voldemort and stunned the man. Dumbledore had turned up and asked what was going on. Since he couldn't come up a story that would cover the fact that he had an unconscious man at his feet, he told Dumbledore the truth, of sorts, leaving out that he was taking the man to Voldemort.

 He managed to get Karkaroff out with what looked like an escape, then stunned him again and took him to Voldemort.

 Voldemort believed him – barely. Snape was not completely trusted, but he did hear some things, most of which were fairly useless because they couldn't risk letting Voldemort know that Snape was a double-double crosser. 

 Even knowing this, it was impossible for any of those who knew, to like the Professor. Sure he put his life in danger almost every day, but he was still a mean little bastard and nothing was going to change that any time soon.

 The other bright point in their lives was that Harry would be coming to visit soon. He hadn't told them or Dumbledore what date that would be, but every one of his letters indicated that time would be quite soon.

 The second term at Hogwarts was progressing well, both Ron and Hermione were doing well in their studies, and Ron claimed he'd never done so well in school before this year.

 It had been seven months since Harry and Sirius had first arrived in the Seekers Academy, on the run, in fear of their lives and not trusting a word that their guide said.

 They'd both changed a lot in those months, though neither of them had really noticed it. The real blow came when Ron and Hermione sent a picture of him and them together taken by Colin Creevey just before the Third Task.

 Looking in the mirror Harry found it very hard to believe that the skinny young looking boy was him. He'd changed so much, grown taller, his shoulders broader, his muscles stronger. His face had lost its young look and hardened since then.

 When he mentioned this to Sirius, his godfather also smiled. "When we go back to the wizarding world, you won't even need a disguise to make sure that no one recognizes us," the man remarked with a smile.

 Harry nodded in agreement and slipped away for his lesson with Shadow Master. He knew that the man was coming close to death now. He couldn't do many things with his magic and tired easily during their lessons.

 When Harry pushed open the door, Shadow Master was not there. Walking to his mentor's bedroom, Harry carefully pushed open the door. The scene that met his eyes was one so peaceful it was hard to believe.

 Shadow Master lay on the bed, eyes closed, for once the shadows did not surround him, and Harry was struck by how much the old man looked like Albus Dumbledore.

 Walking forward, Harry tested the vital points and checked breathing; his hands didn't shake at all, something, which greatly surprised him. His findings all proved what Harry's mind did not want to accept. Shadow Master was dead, and the time to leave Seekers Academy had come.

 He was so calm as he left the room that he wondered for a moment if someone else had just lost their teacher and friend, but from the dead feeling in his stomach, he knew this to be false.

 "Aren't you back early, kid?" Sirius asked, as Harry walked into his room, a trunk trundling behind him. "And why do you have a trunk with you?"

 "It's happened, Padfoot. Shadow Master's dead and it's time for us to leave again," Harry's voice was emotionless and deadpan, his green eyes pale and cold. He did not let his grief show.

 Sirius bowed his head. "I'll be ready in a moment," he said softly, moving swiftly around his room to gather those few things that he owned and store them in Harry's trunk as well.

 He shrunk the trunk and placed it in his own pocket before gently resting a hand on Harry's shoulder and guiding him from the room in silence.

 They headed for the stables, Harry took Midnight from his stall, they kept the horses that they chose to ride, if they chose one above the others.

 Sirius, who generally changed horses once a week, finding the animals very difficult, chose a chestnut gelding with a white star on its forehead and mounted quickly.

 Harry was already sitting easily on the back of his own horse, looking as if he belonged there, which Sirius certainly did not. Clinging to the saddle horn, he nudged the horse carefully after Harry.

 They rode in silence till they were about three miles away from the Seekers Academy; because there were anti-aparation wards extended this far away from it. With the horses left tethered and waiting of their return, they Aparated to Diagon Alley where they bought some books and such. It was while they were here that they saw an advertisement on the notice board.

 There was a free space at Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour had left to go back to her own country because there were more attacks from Voldemort aimed here and she wanted to be there to protect her family as best she could.

 Harry and Sirius glanced at each other, a quick conversation passing with their finger language, and Sirius grinned while Harry smiled ever so slightly.

 Having finished their shopping, which consisted mainly of very advanced books on various subjects, the pair of them Aparated back to the horses, and, with the animals and their belongings with them, they then Aparated to the Hogsmeade Aparation point and gave their business to the pair of suspicious looking guards on the platform.

 They had to wait for a short time while the guards performed several spells to insure that they were not Death Eaters (mainly anti-illusion charms) Harry thought that it was lucky that neither of the guards could perform the charm that had to be used to remove an Illusion placed using Wandless Magic (the spell itself required Wandless magic to break through, and very few people could do that.)

 This was what he and Sirius had used to place their illusions. Harry appeared to have brown-blonde hair, sapphire eyes and pale skin. He was a little shorter, broader, his build was more of a fighters than an athletes and his scar was covered by a patch of illusion that he placed in the air in front of him, since it wouldn't work if it was just on his skin.

 Sirius looked almost the same, though there were differences in the shape of the face, the tone of the eyes, height and so on. It was easy to see that they were 'related'.

 After that they both headed up to the Hogwarts Castle, coming in by the front gate where they went through the same process by a group of Aurors who were watching the gate.

 Then they both headed up to Dumbledore's office, quickly going over the story that they would tell to the rest of the school in their sign language.

 They gained admittance into Dumbledore's rooms after going through yet another set of Aurors, who this time took out a spelled ball that changed colour if someone lied. They both had to say in clear words that neither of them were Death Eaters and that they wished no harm to the Headmaster of the school.

 Once that had been done, one of the Aurors murmured the password, he didn't seem to think that Harry and Sirius had heard, but they both did, as their Animagus forms both had very good hearing.

 They quickly walked into the office and headed up the moving stairs. When they reached the top and knocked on the door, Dumbledore called out calmly "come in!"

 Sirius pushed the door open and walked into the room. There was no one but Dumbledore inside, which seemed a little surprising, after the amount of security that the school seemed to need.

 Sirius and Harry took the seats that were placed in front of the desk when Dumbledore invited them to sit. "Now, what have you come to see me about? Nothing that you tell me will leave this room without your say so."

 Sirius flicked a quick message to Harry who smiled faintly. "I sent you a letter a short time ago asking if we could come and visit the school," he said to Dumbledore carefully. "My name is James 'Panther' Black, and this is my uncle and guardian, Peter 'Padfoot' Black," he said.

 Dumbledore's eyes widened a little and Harry felt a slight sense of pride – he'd finally managed to surprise the headmaster!

 "We were on our way for the visit, passing through Diagon Alley, when we saw your add. We've come from America (part of the disguise that Harry, had put over them consisted of the American accent) and have little desire to return there, even after we've seen the state of things here in Britain, this is our third trip and we love it here, so I would really like to get a job, for a while at least," Sirius finished for him.

 "That takes care of you, Peter, but what of your young nephew? Would he be joining a year group?" Dumbledore asked after a moment.

 Harry answered this. "No, I don't think that I would want to join a class too much. My uncle has taught me quite a bit of magic; I'd rather just help him out a bit, with teaching. Like if he needs to do demonstrations, or if he wants some help managing the classes if they are in groups."

 "I'm sure that we can accommodate for that," Dumbledore said with a smile. No one would guess from looking at the meeting that it was a reunion of old friends rather than a meeting of new. Dumbledore understood that Harry didn't want to join his class again, because he might let something slip by accident.

 By the end of the day both Harry and Sirius had accommodation in the staff wing, Dumbledore had decided immediately that he would hire them on, since he'd been anxious about Harry's whereabouts since he and Sirius had disappeared.

 That night they both ate with the rest of the school, Harry spoke to his godfather for a moment and then headed over to the Gryffindor Table.

 He sat down beside Ron; Hermione was on the red-haired boys other side. Both watched him with wariness and surprise that this new boy who had been sitting with the teachers before was now choosing to sit with them.

"Hi, I'm James, remember, I met you in Diagon Alley at the beginning of the year?" This was what they'd decided to be the story of their meeting when Harry came for his visit.

 Immediately the wariness in their eyes was replaced with surprise and delight and as the greeted him. "We didn't expect you to be so early! And you've changed so much!" Hermione said, eyes wide. "How long are you staying here for?"

 "My uncle Peter's going to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and I'll be helping him, rather than joining a class," he explained.

 Ron and Hermione nodded. "If you need a tour of the castle, we'll be glad to show you around," Hermione offered. She had become very good at hiding her own emotions, and no one would guess that she was greeting a long lost friend.

 Ron finally got around to speaking. "So how are you James?" he asked.

 Harry smiled at his best friend. "I'm ok, I guess. A friend just died – old age, not an attack," he added when they looked up sharply.

 Both smiled sympathetically at him. "I heard that your parents were killed too, Hermione, I'm sorry," he added softly.

 Hermione smiled in thanks at him. Draco Malfoy had been watching this new boy with interest, and felt incredibly insulted when the boy went to the Gryffindor Table rather than the Slytherin.

 He stood up, motioning for Grabbe and Goyle to come with him. The three of them headed over to the Gryffindor table to set the new kid straight.

 "Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy," he announced calmly, the new boy didn't turn around or even give any indication that he'd heard. Rather than repeat himself and look like an idiot, Malfoy motioned to Grabbe.

 The boy blundered forwards and moved to seize the new boys shoulder and make him turn around. Before he could so much as touch the other boy, he'd reached behind him, caught Grabbe's finger, forcing it upwards until, with a nasty crunch, it broke.

 Grabbe danced around howling in pain, and finally the new boy turned around to face Malfoy. "_My name is James Black, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers nephew. If someone is talking, by the way, it is common courtesy to ask politely before barging into a conversation. If you try and send your bully boys against me, they'll lose. Take him to the hospital."_

 With that he turned back to his conversation with Ron and Hermione. Draco Malfoy stalked back to his table, leaving Grabbe to make his own way to the Hospital Wing. A blush stained his pale cheeks, made worse by the fact that everyone was laughing at him.

 Harry finished his food and stood up, heading back up to the Staff Table. Severus Snape glared at him with pure hatred in his eyes. Harry smiled back calmly, which only seemed to make the man angrier.

 Once everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore stood up. "I'm pleased to be able to announce that we already have a new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Black and his nephew James came here from America, and have decided to stay. Despite his age, James has all the rights of a teacher in most cases, or at least those of a Prefect. I hope that you'll all do your best to help them learn their way around the castle and won't cause any trouble for either of them in classes."

 With that, he sat down and the talk broke out amongst the students, all pointing to Harry and Sirius. Both of them left soon after this, not liking the attention that they were receiving.

 They'd talked to Dumbledore – Albus, as he insisted that they call him – and he'd organized for a training room to come off their adjacent rooms.

 Now they had a quick session before Sirius began teaching Harry some of the spells that were more at his level – he still wouldn't let his godson practice the spells from the advanced adult levels. Now they had the ones that Seventh Years studying advanced classes in Hogwarts used.

 Once they'd learned the theory – they'd learn the actual spells the next day – for the first three spells, Sirius watched while Harry carefully practiced Elemental Magic, pushing just to the limits of his strengths, careful not to let himself do too much. Shadow Master had written caution into his bones.

 There was a knock on the door and Harry immediately dismissed the Elementals he had summoned and opened it. Albus Dumbledore walked inside.

 Harry smiled in greeting. "Professor, how can we help you?" he asked.

 "I've told you, call me Albus," was the calm reply. 

 Harry rolled his eyes and repeated the question, using Albus instead of Professor. The headmaster's response was to ward the rooms against listeners. 

 "No one can hear anything we say. They'll hear only normal conversation," Albus said. "I want to know where you have been, Harry."

 "Could you call me Panther?" Harry asked in reply. "I know that the warding will work, but the need for hiding who I am has been drilled into me for so long that it's kind of odd hearing my real name."

 "Panther, then," Dumbledore conceded with a nod.

 "We have been at the Seekers Academy," Harry said. "We are both Seekers now, and we left this morning when the old Shadow Master died."

 "Ah. I believe that he was my distant cousin," Dumbledore said sadly. "My great-aunts son, I think."

 "He looked like you," Harry admitted. "I wondered if there was some connection between you. He was over four hundred years old."

 "That would be him then. I myself am one hundred and fifty one," Dumbledore agreed with a faint smile. Harry didn't have much trouble accepting this, after meeting someone who had been alive for over four hundred years.

 "Now, why did you go to the Seekers Academy?"

 "Shadow Master came and asked if we'd like to come," Sirius said. "He knew who we were, and he particularly wanted Harry there. We found out later that it was because Panther has the ability to use Wandless magic, and Elemental Magic as well."

 "Really?" Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise. "I knew that you should be doing better at school, but to be able to use those two magics? I wasn't sure that it was possible to have them both!"

 "Shadow Master was the same," Harry replied. "He wanted to teach me how to use them." They proceeded to tell the headmaster of their adventures since leaving Privet Drive eight months before (they left in June and it's now February).

 Dumbledore was amazed by their tales, though they could tell him very little about Seekers Academy, it being forbidden. They could, and did, tell him of the training that they'd received, and the other things that had happened.

 It was a very late night for all of them, the retelling taking them up to one in the morning.

 "I thank you, I do not believe that I have been this amazed since I was your age myself. I don't get many surprises these days, but you have provided me with more than I ever expected! Goodnight!"

 They bid the headmaster good night and both Harry and Sirius also headed to their beds, since the first class would be tomorrow morning, and both wanted some sleep after the events of the day.

 Harry was asleep the moment he fell into his bed, and didn't wake until half an hour before the sun rose, his usual time to get up. Although for once he could have slept in for a little while at least, he knew that one day would lead to another and the only thing to do was get up now and go for a training session.

 Sirius woke a few moments later and joined him, looking as tired as Harry felt, but cheerful nonetheless.

 That morning Harry again went to sit with Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor Table and they talked of innocent things, how Harry's 'uncle' was, what they were learning in lessons and the like.

 "We have Defense this afternoon, after double period potions," Hermione told him. "We have Defense with the Slytherins too, but with you and Peter – or should I say Professor Black? – as the teachers, I'm sure that it will turn into the complete opposite of Potions."

 "I expect so," Harry agreed with a grin. "If you need some help with homework, just ask, I've read a lot of the books, so I might be of some help, though Ron, don't expect me to _do it for you."_

 Hermione smiled. Harry had changed as much as she and Ron had since their last year in the school, probably more. Some of the changes were nice, like this new found knowledge he seemed to have, but others, the wariness in his eyes, the fact that he marked every entrance and exit, where everyone was sitting and seemed to weigh them up, as if deciding how dangerous they were the moment he entered a room, the changes like that she didn't like nearly so much. 

 After breakfast they parted ways, with "good lucks" all round, figuring that they'd all need it to survive the first classes of the day.

 Harry headed swiftly up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Sirius was already there, pacing up and down the room looking nervous.

 The first thing Harry did was put a ward on the door that would let him know exactly what each student was carrying with them. This was to make sure that there were no weapons, or things that could potentially be used as weapons. It also told him if they had illusions on, he included illusions made with Wandless Magic, and it would tell him if there were any spells on their belongings, and what they were.

 Harry then pulled the teachers chair out from the desk and shoved his godfather into it. "Sit down and calm down," he said firmly. Sirius looked up and grinned wearily. 

 "What am I doing here?" He asked.

 "Teaching," was Harry's firm reply. "Since it's first years, you're working on some basic defense spells, and ways to tell magical animals apart from normal ones. Since they've already learned some, you are going to do some spells for defending and or defeating magical animals."

 "Yes I know that. That wasn't the answer I was looking for," Sirius growled in exasperation.

 Harry smiled with an innocent expression on his face. Sirius scowled. "What have you done?" He demanded.

 "Nothing … yet," Harry replied with a faint smile. Sirius rolled his eyes and went into a brief moment of panic trying to remember if he had everything.

 Harry, who'd asked Dumbledore for a list of things his godfather would need for lessons, took it out and checked the items off before Sirius could work himself into too much of a state.

 Sirius glared at him, but just then the class arrived. They were first years, and wouldn't have learned too much as yet that year, Sirius had found Fleur's notes on their lessons, so Sirius had some idea of what was happening with their lessons so far.

 The lesson went well, and Sirius told Harry to go and wander around the castle, since he wouldn't be doing any spells that required his help. Immediately Harry decided to head down to the dungeons and see what he could do about annoying Snape, knowing that his godfather would deem it 'time well spent.'

 He cast a quick invisibility charm over himself and headed for Snape's classroom. 

 When he entered, Snape was yelling at Neville for not doing a potion right – Hermione was over on the other side of the room, probably so that she couldn't help Neville.

 Harry could see exactly what was wrong, and slipped over to the other boy's cauldron and carefully slipped an extra ingredient into the potion. A moment later, while Snape was still lecturing Neville, the potion became the colour, texture and thickness it was supposed to be.

 Snape looked at it in surprise, lifted some out with a ladle and was annoyed to find that it was perfectly correct. With an evil smile, Harry slipped over to Malfoy's potion and again added an ingredient. 

 A moment later, the potion exploded, covering Malfoy, Grabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson in the mixture.

 Immediately, giant nasty looking boils popped up all over them, the four of them were screaming and Harry, laughing silently, slipped across the room and out of the door. Opening it, he walked inside to view the chaos that he'd just caused, his face completely blank.

 Snape spun to see who'd entered the room and his eyes narrowed to see Harry, or rather 'James'.

 "What are you doing here?" He snarled.

 "Learning my way around the castle," Harry replied with a blink. "I'd thought that you'd be able to manage a class better than this, Professor. You really do let the Slytherins get away with murder … I heard you yelling at one of the boys just a moment ago, for not getting the colour of the potion right, but I don't see you getting Malfoy into trouble for a much more serious offense."

 Snape glared at him in fury. "I will manage my class the way I want to, boy," he growled out.

 Harry merely shrugged. "I don't think that Professor Dumbledore would like to hear about this," he said, with a warning smile. "I overheard him telling my uncle that he despised favouritism when it was taken to the extent that a teacher got one party in trouble for a minor offense, and then let another get away with murder …"

 He turned to walk away. He didn't see the look of utter hatred that Snape sent at his back – there was even more dislike than when he'd been looking at Harry Potter, if that were possible.

 "Malfoy, twenty points from Slytherin," Snape snapped angrily.

 Harry turned with a brilliant smile. "There! I knew you were a fair man, Professor! Do you mind if I hang around here, I promise I won't disrupt the class, but my uncle's lessons are boring to attend, since I helped organize them in the first place." 

 Harry took out his wand and waved at the four Slytherins who were still running around the room screaming. Immediately the boils disappeared.

 Snape glared, but he couldn't refuse to let another teacher stand and watch, especially after the said teacher had helped him, and could do nothing to stop him.

 Harry took a seat at the back of the classroom, watching. He knew that Snape wouldn't try and favor the Slytherins after Harry's carefully veiled warning, and he got to see the looks of relief on the Gryffindors faces when they weren't screamed at for putting just a foot out of line.

 Once the bell rang, Snape was looking incredibly tense, probably because he hadn't had a chance to yell at a Gryffindor for half of the lesson.

 Harry fell in with the Gryffindor crowd, as there was a break before they went to Defense, in which he, Ron and Hermione headed for Harry's rooms in the staff wing.

 "So, James, what's been happening?" Ron asked, careful to still use Harry's other name.

 Harry carefully put up wards around the rooms before speaking. "A lot. Call me Panther if you like, it's my nickname from where I've been staying. You can speak easy now, there are wards on the room."

 "But … were they already there?" Hermione asked, surprised.

 Harry blinked. "No. I just put them up then," he replied. Seeing the surprised look on Hermione's face become more so, he remembered that he had told them nothing of his life at the Seekers Academy. "I can do Wandless magic," he explained, and then went on to give a short account of where he'd been and what he'd done.

 Both Ron and Hermione were gaping by the end of his tale, as they'd been learning a little on the Seekers Academy in History of Magic, everyone had paid attention in those classes, because of the interesting subject matter, although Binns had managed to make it soon very dismal and boring.

 "The Seekers Academy … we thought that was just a myth, that's what Binns said," Ron remarked.

 "He said the same thing about the Chamber of Secrets. If that was a myth, it was an all too real one for me," Harry replied coolly, a statement to which Ron and Hermione had to agree.

 "So, what do you look like now, Panther? And how did you get that nick name?" Ron said, staring at his friend.

 "I look different to this, I won't show you know, because it's almost time for lessons, but remind me later. As for Panther, it's my Animagus form," Harry replied, smiling.

 "But the Seekers Academy, and being an Animagus … I'm jealous!" Ron exclaimed. "How much fighting stuff did you learn?"

 "A _lot_," was Harry's reply, as the bell rang.

 Ron and Hermione grabbed their bags and they all headed for the Defense Rooms. They were the first to arrive, surprisingly, but Sirius was waiting for them.

 "Where were you?" He asked Harry, looking panicked.

 Harry sighed, took out his checklist and made sure that his godfather had everything. "You know," Sirius remarked, "this feels like going back to school, your father did the same thing."

 Harry smiled faintly as he stepped back into a corner and shadows seemed to envelope him. Harry remained there while the rest of the class gathered in the room, the Slytherins being the last to arrive.

 It was ten minutes after the bell when Malfoy and his two 'friends' turned up, and Sirius frowned. "I did hear that you were sent to the Hospital Wing, to make sure that all traces of that exploding potion were gone," he said, and Malfoy relaxed a little, he wasn't going to get into trouble. "But I also took the trouble to go and check in the middle of the break, and discovered that you'd been released. Therefore, five points from Slytherin for your lateness."

 The Gryffindors all smiled smugly at that, they always loved seeing Malfoy get into trouble. "Now sit down and get your things out! I don't have all day to wait around for you, you know!" Sirius barked at the latecomers.

 Resentfully, Malfoy found a seat near the back of the room, in fact, it was right in front of Harry, so the boy could hear every word that they said.

 "Huh, doesn't that idiot know who I am? My father will hear about this," Malfoy muttered under his breath, so that Sirius wouldn't hear.

 "Is that so Malfoy? And what, may I ask, is your father going to do about it? Nothing. The teaching methods at this school are none of his concern, especially since he got sacked from the Board of Governors for blackmail," Harry's voice, quiet and silky, came out of the corner behind him.

 The entire class spun around to find James, the teacher's nephew, standing behind Malfoy's desk. The Slytherin boy was blushing. "Besides, given your reputation – which I am now beginning to think needs to be changed a little – you aren't supposed to be one to hide behind peoples backs. And this is the _second_ time that you've hidden behind your father."

 Harry knew that points could not be taken away for that remark, but also knew that the tale of Malfoy's humiliation would be spread throughout the school by the time night fell, and that would be just as bad as getting in trouble – maybe even worse.

 The lesson progressed, any Slytherin who tried to make trouble found that Harry was very good at hearing things, and had no mercy on those who spoke out of turn.

 He seemed a little more thawed towards the Gryffindors, and accepted their offer to show him around the school during lunch with a smile of thanks. 

 By the time the lesson ended, the Slytherins were very glad to escape the classroom, though the Gryffindors waited politely behind for Harry, or "James". 

 After a happy hour exploring the castle with his old friends from Gryffindor, who he made friends with a second time, Harry returned to his own rooms, as Sirius only had the Hufflepuff first years after lunch.

 That night, after spending some time in the library with Ron and Hermione and meeting all of their new friends from various houses, Harry headed to bed for an early night, not feeling like eating dinner.

 This, he discovered later, was quite a mistake … or was it a blessing? He wasn't too sure. 

********************************************************

Oooo! Wonder what happened! I know, I know! But I'll tell you next chapter, hey?

Thanks To:

Jordan, Katy999, solar, Maxx77, Bob33, knot2be, brion, etfrompo, alana, Lord R, fantasydima, Songbreeze Swifteye, CR, Dog Stars Crush, orion, wquad, Clare, Old Fawkes, DaBear, Zaln, glimmer, princess55, Them Girl, Jess S, and pheonixrising.

~WolfMoon~


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine:

 Harry dreamt, blackness swirled, took forms in nightmarish figures, lasting moments before they dissolved and returned. Finally the blackness began to swirl around him, everything blurred and he felt himself becoming one with that darkness, his being becoming like those shadowed figures, swirling till he was part of the whirlwind himself.

 Then everything stopped – for a moment all was dark and motionless, then light came, flooding in, racing around him to illuminate the scene.

 Harry opened his mouth, a scream ripping up his throat, horror and disgust and helplessness filling his being.

 He chocked, staggering, and then straightened, looking about him with horrified fascination.

 He stood in a field of the dead, the light that shone over the scene came from the skull of sickening green that hovered over the clearing. Harry wandered through this dream, looking at the dead, wondering what had happened here. It did not take him long to find out.

 Half of the bodies were those of young children, which made Harry sick. This had been a school – a Muggle school, it seemed. Or had it been an orphanage? For many of the children were very young.

 He continued walking – he couldn't wake, couldn't make himself look away from the pitiful figures of children, terror etched on their faces – and each face was burned into his mind. He didn't know their names, but they were just some of the many people who had suffered from Voldemort's new reign of terror.

 And Voldemort would pay for the lives he'd taken here tonight – Harry would make sure of that! He came across a young woman. On her chest was a badge – she was a worker here, and it confirmed Harry's second guess – this was an orphanage.

 Suddenly the world seemed to rock, and his eyes in the waking world opened. Sirius was standing over him, eyes concerned. Harry realized that his cheeks were damp with tears and suddenly he was swept into his godfathers warm embrace.

 He just sat there, tears trickling down his cheeks, trying to come to terms with the horror he'd just seen. He tried to remember if something like this had ever happened before – and came up with nothing.

 He could only remember rare times when he'd cried after his third birthday, and he'd not been comforted in any of those situations. Finally he pulled himself together and pulled back out of his godfathers arms.

 "Panther, what happened?" Sirius asked him, gently. He knew that Harry wouldn't want to remember what he'd seen, but knew also that he had to tell.

 "Voldemort. He attacked a Muggle orphanage. Some people might still be alive," Harry replied, standing up.

 "Where are you going?" Sirius asked him, leaping to his feet. Harry dressed himself with a quick Wandless spell and bounded from the rooms, mentally checking his weapons as he skidded through the corridors, Sirius hot on his heels.

 Harry slammed to a halt beside the gargoyle that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's rooms. He muttered the password (it had returned to Sherbet Lemon) and bounded into the room and up the stairs.

 Sirius arrived around the corner, panting slightly and gasped out the password, as the gargoyle had only just jumped back into its position in front of the wall.

 It gave him a cold look, before springing to the side again and allowing him through.

 When he arrived in the study, Harry was seated in front of Dumbledore, carefully explaining his dream. When he'd finished Dumbledore immediately walked over to the fire to speak with some people to get a crew out and looking for survivors.

 Harry glanced at Sirius and they both headed towards the door. "We'll go now, if you need us, call Padfoot, I need some proper sleep," Harry told Dumbledore, yawning.

 "Yes, yes, do that," Dumbledore replied absently, and the pair of them quickly retired. Harry finished that night without any more nightmarish dreams, much to his relief.

 In the morning when Sirius came in to wake his godson, he found Harry wide awake, up and dressed.

 He'd charmed his robes into the ones that Hogwarts students wore, and his appearance something like that of the Harry Potter who'd fled the Wizarding world months before.

 Harry turned, in front of the mirror, examining his appearance minutely. "Do you think this looks like people here would expect me to look like now?" He asked his godfather, frowning slightly. 

 "Everyone changes a lot when they hit their teens, so any oddities could easily be explained away by that – you need glasses by the way," Sirius replied.

 "_Glasses!_ Of course! I knew I'd forgotten something!" Harry exclaimed, closing his eyes for a moment. Immediately there was a flicker of golden light around his face and he had glasses – slightly different glasses than before, but that went better with the more mature look his face had gained.

 "And what brought this on, if you don't mind me asking?" Sirius asked, smiling.

 "I think I might pay a little visit the Gryffindor and Slytherins double potions class this morning," Harry replied, grinning wickedly.

 Sirius laughed. "Record it for me, I want to see the looks on their faces!" he replied, heading outside to go down to breakfast.

 Harry chuckled softly and let the illusions fall away, carefully storing them for when he would need them again later. He then brought back the ones that were 'James Black', and went to breakfast.

 He went to eat with Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor Table, telling them in whispers of his plans for the morning. Ron and Hermione decided that for once, they could look forward to Potions, as Harry would make it very … _interesting_.

 Finally breakfast ended and, as usual, 'James' disappeared. No one did know where he spent the time between the classes that he did attend to help his "uncle" teach. It was a rumour that anyone who was going to ask him ended up in the hospital with injuries soon afterwards, though no one who'd been in the hospital wing admitted to such.

 Usually he browsed the school, checking out various hidden passageways, and even managing to discover a secret room that Sirius admitted the Marauders hadn't found, which was promptly added to the map, which Sirius had 'borrowed' off Dumbledore when they returned to school.

 Today, however, he walked down to the dungeons and performed a quick invisibility charm over himself, quickly bringing all of his illusions around himself.

 He waited, a cool smile playing at his lips as he waited patiently for the class to arrive and begin. The Gryffindors, of course, had to arrive early so as not to get into trouble, and the Slytherins turned up after the bell, moving slowly and not appearing to care whether they were on time or not.

 Harry felt his hatred of Snape, nurtured by months of Sirius's company, rising, and, to stop himself doing something really stupid, blew up Malfoy's cauldron.

 Snape immediately rounded on the culprit, and, on discovering that it was his favorite student, smiled and repaired the cauldron as best as possible, before aiding the Slytherin boy in getting his potion back up to date.

 Harry raised a fist and knocked on the door. Malfoy had just begun teasing Ron and Hermione about being friends with an ex-criminal.

 When Snape opened the door, expecting to see 'James' here to annoy him, was very surprised to find an older version of one of his most hated students. Harry Potter.

 "Potter! What are you doing here?" Snape demanded, immediately capturing the interest of the entire class. The Gryffindors gaped to see their old friend returned to them.

 The Slytherins were gaping because they'd thought that Harry Potter was long dead and were annoyed to see that they were wrong.

 Ron and Hermione smiled so happily those in the room seemed to think that they'd just burst with happiness.

 "What am I doing here?" Harry mused, looking thoughtful. Tapping a finger to his mouth. "Let me think … I was under the apparent illusion that I was going to school here … perhaps I was wrong."

 "No, I believe you are correct in that aspect. Perhaps you would like to tell me where you've been for all this time?"

 "Perhaps later," Harry replied coolly. "I'm not coming back yet – I just dropped by to see how my old class was going."

 "What do you mean, you're not coming back yet?" Snape demanded. "You have been pardoned, you are aware of that, aren't you?"  
 "Of course I am," Harry replied coldly. "Fortunately for me, I am aware that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, and therefore will hand me over to Voldemort the moment I come back. I will not be returning until I am completely sure that this is not going to happen." 

 "Are you a part of this class or not, Potter?"  
 "Why? Because if I am, you want to get me in trouble for speaking to a Professor in such a fashion? At the moment, I am not a part of this class – when I return to school, I believe that I'll have to be re-sorted, as, having been arrested and then pardoned; I was, in a legal sense, killed and brought back to life. Like I said, I was just…  passing by this way and dropped in to see my old friends. I will leave now, since you appear to be having such a good time terrorizing your students so that they can't learn properly, and then taking points off them for getting potions wrong.

 "You spelt 'boomslang' wrong, by the way – it's only one word, not two," with that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, disappeared out the door, leaving his old year mates and most hated teacher gaping after him.

 A moment later 'James' appeared around the corner. "I just met up with Harry Potter, I can see why you like him, Ron, Hermione," he remarked with a wink that no one else caught.

 "James. What are _you doing here?" Snape snarled. This day was __not turning out well._

 "Harry mentioned that you weren't being very polite," 'James' remarked. "But I came to see what's happening with my _favorite fifth year class, if you __must know!"_

 Snape glared at him, and Harry ignored it completely, having become quite familiar with that glare over the past five years, and more so since he'd returned to school as 'James.'

 When the class ended, Harry waved his two friends out of the room and waited until it had cleared of occupants before approaching Snape.

 "What do you want know?" The man snarled.

 "I suppose you didn't know about the attack on the Muggle orphanage last night?" Harry half asked, half stated, eyes sad.

 "How did you know about that?" Snape demanded, looking up abruptly.

 Harry sighed. "I see things like that in dreams, on occasion," he replied coolly. "I had the doubtable pleasure of being shown the scene after the fight had taken place. It was me who told Dumbledore about it so that he could organize a party to go and look for survivors. I hope it didn't put you on the spot."

 Snape looked surprised that Harry knew about his spying game. "No, it didn't, as far as I'm aware," he said dryly. "And I wasn't at the attack, although I heard something about it in the Daily Prophet this morning."

 "Be glad that you weren't there. It was awful," Harry assured him, and strode quickly out of the classroom to catch up with the fifth years heading for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

 The next few days passed in relative peace and quiet – apart from the fact that it was all over the newspapers that Harry Potter had been in Hogwarts for a few moments.

 Everyone had been positively astounded to hear him call the Minister of Magic a Death Eater, but it was raising questions about Minister Malfoy that he could only put down for so long.

 Harry's life as James were going rather well, he and Sirius were having a lot of fun torturing Slytherins in lessons, although Sirius was bound by a magical promise not to play pranks on them.

 Harry, without telling his godfather, had broken through the spell and was planning a very fun evening tonight. Namely, pranking Malfoy from now into next year …

 He met up with Ron and Hermione in the Library – they were working on an essay on Wandless Magic and It's Uses In Transfiguration for McGonagall. 

 Him being a Wandless Mage, he'd prove to be very helpful for them, even though he'd have to be careful to limit what he said so that McGonagall wouldn't become suspicious about how fifth year students managed to know things that weren't in any textbooks in the school.

 Once they'd completely the essay – they'd been working on it for the past four days, so there wasn't all that much left to do – Harry, Ron and Hermione settled down to their prank playing on Slytherins.

 "Now, I want to try something that'll make even _Padfoot_ surprised – that'll be difficult, with his history," Harry remarked.

 "Well, you know everything he did at school, don't you?" Hermione asked him thoughtfully.

 "Yep. He's done just about everything. From making the Slytherins walk around with robes flashing various fluro colours, or signs saying 'Gryffindor Rules', to making them sing every time they opened their mouths," Harry replied.

 "Hmmm, that could be difficult then," Ron mused. "Do you think that we should call Fred and George in?"   
 "Nah – I've got to prove to Padfoot that we are the new generation of Marauders. I've got to live up to my fathers expectations," Harry sighed.

 "Hey! Wait a sec! We could put a bucket outside the Slytherin common room, so that whenever somebody exits the room, they get something down to them. Have it different for everyone, every time that they get it done. Sometimes sawdust, sometimes so that they flash rainbow colours all day … get the drift?"  
 "Yeah!" Ron said, eyes shining enthusiastically. "But don't tell me the Marauders never did that?"  
 "They did … kind of. They did it as separate pranks, not all in one," Harry replied, eyes twinkling wickedly

 Ron and Hermione joined Harry in laughter, though all three quickly shut up when Albus Dumbledore himself entered the library so as not to draw attention to themselves.

 They were wondering if their attempt had failed, as the headmaster was walking straight for their table, but when he reached it, he merely looked at James. "James, I believe you've been wanting to speak with me?" He half asked, half stated.

 "Yes, actually, Albus," Harry replied, going along with the headmasters wish to call him by his first name. Ron and Hermione shared a brief smile, they knew how uncomfortable it was for Harry to call the headmaster Albus – it didn't seem right to Harry, or them either.

"Then please, come and speak in my office," Albus said, blue eyes twinkling merrily. Harry smiled in return, waved a quick goodbye to his friends, using the hand movement that he and Sirius used for 'we'll talk again later'.

 He'd taught Ron and Hermione some of the hand language, just the basic phrases, so that they could let each other know some things. Both smiled, waved and quickly formed the signal for agreement with his statement.

 Harry and Albus walked quickly up to the Headmasters office, the gargoyle springing aside with no need for a password from the Headmaster and occupant of the office. 

 Seated safely within the office, Harry whipped up a quick ward against listeners, and stroked Fawkes' head absently with one hand. 

 "What did you want to talk to me about, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, once Harry had given the all clear.

 "My dream the other night," Harry replied, getting straight to the subject he wished to discuss.

 "My dear boy, you had similar ones over last year, I thought we'd finished with this discussion?" Dumbledore remarked, smiling faintly. 

 "So did I. But not once in my time at the Seekers Academy did I have one of these dreams. So I suppose my real question is: Why now?"   
 "Well. That is a completely different matter. Are you sure that there were no dreams at the Academy?"

 "They are kind of hard to forget," Harry remarked glumly. "So no, I did not have any dreams there. None bar the normal kind, in any case."  
 "How could anyone think of any dream as 'ordinary' is beyond me," Dumbledore remarked. At Harry's delicately arched eyebrow, he returned to the topic of the conversation. 

 "My only thought on the matter is that somehow Shadow Master – God rest his soul – put up barriers to protect from them, or that the already existent barriers that keep school and mountain protected from the gaze of outsiders blocked them."

 "That would make sense, the barriers were very strong, Shadow Master once showed me how to test them for power," Harry remarked, shivering at the remembered power those barriers possessed. 

 "That would be the kind of thing he'd do with a beginner," Dumbledore remarked with a faint frown, as if disagreeing with his now dead relative. "Good, we have that out of the way – it couldn't really be any thing else, or you'd have experienced something since you left the Academy. Now, there is something else that I'd like to show you. First, that blade you wear, could you show me it in it's true form, please?" 

 Harry had mentioned that he had disguised the sword when he'd talked to Dumbledore after he'd first arrived. Looking somewhat surprised, he'd completely forgotten that he'd never actually shown the sword in it's true form, Harry did just that. 

 Dumbledore's soft intake of breath startled Harry – he'd gone and surprised the old man again, it seemed. "What?" He asked curiously.

 "That blade once belonged to Salazar Slytherin – one of a pair. It's twin you have seen – and used – before," Dumbledore turned and took down the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry remembered the sword well, and the incident that Dumbledore referred to, when he'd actually used it.

 "Your blood was shed on it, and you nearly died with it in your hand. You used it to kill another living thing – an evil thing – you are this swords chosen bearer also," Dumbledore remarked, holding it out to Harry to examine.

 Harry took the sword carefully, running his hands over it. He smiled faintly. This was indeed the twin to his other sword, in shape and design they were identical, save for the fact that one had a gold hilt with a ruby in it's center and the other had a silver hilt with an emerald stone instead. 

 He tested the sword on his finger and smiled faintly – it was as sharp as his other sword.

 "You have shed blood on this before, and have now done so again – it is yours," Dumbledore remarked. "I'll let you get back to your friends in the Library."

 Harry smiled, thanked the headmaster and hurried back to his friends, thinking for a moment. A quick spell with Wandless magic and both swords crossed over his back, one hilt over either shoulder, both of them changed so that people saw only two battered swords, rather than the flawless blades that both of them actually were.

 A moment later he was back at the entrance to the Library, waving to his friends to come with him. They immediately stood up and headed out of the Library, following Harry to the hidden room that he'd discovered, so that they could be sure Fred and George wouldn't come in unannounced.

 Harry warded the room quickly using his skills in Wandless magic and turned to his friends. "That was interesting," he remarked, then added, "speak your mind, the room is warded."

 "What did Dumbledore want to talk to you about?" Hermione asked immediately.

 "I had a dream about the attack on the Muggle Orphanage, and I hadn't had one while I was at Seekers Academy, so I wanted to ask him his theory on that."

 "And that other sword that you have on your back? What about that?" Ron asked eagerly.

 " You both remember me telling you about the Chamber of Secrets and fighting the basilisk?" Harry half asked, half stated.

 At two impatient nods, he continued. "Well, what I never really explained was that the sword was that of Godric Gryffindor, and I brought it out of the hat. My other blade was once Salazar Slytherins, and the pair have fought against each other countless times. 

 "You have to pay a price for both of them, to win Godric's sword, I had to show loyalty to Hogwarts and did that by both sticking by the Headmaster and by defeating the last mark that Slytherin left on the school. My blood pretty much covered the blade, along with that of the basilisk, so it was bound to me by my own blood, and that of an enemy that I killed using the sword.

 "Salazar Slytherin, while being a good blade master, was much more sly and tended towards trickery rather than open fighting. His descendents were the same, and when one of them brought the sword to the Seekers Academy, it was hung up there and rarely brought into the open.

 "The way to win this sword is to know the dangers of taking it from it's sheath. Since it's owner is not alive to battle it for – that's normally how the swords are passed on, one blade master is defeated by another and relinquishes the sword – a person may be told that if they take blade from the sheath but are not he person that it is meant for, it will kill them, which is true.

 "The blade called to me, and I answered the call, knowing the dangers of doing so. Luckily for me, I was the one who the sword belonged to, and it did not kill me. Because I could have died, this sword also is bound to me by blood, if of a different nature," Harry explained to his wide eyed friends.

 "You can't tell me Sirius knew about that," Hermione remarked after a moment.

 "Well, I _could_, but that would be lying, and while I may do that to everyone else, I don't to you," Harry replied with a grin, dodging the cushion that Hermione threw at his head.

 "So, what did you mean about the dream," Ron asked, remembering the first thing that Harry had told them about. "What did Dumbledore have to say about that, and why didn't you tell us about it?"  
 "Didn't I?" Harry asked, somewhat surprised. "I guess it never came up, and I didn't really want to remember about it, it was that horrible …" He explained what Dumbledore's theory had been.

 "But Harry, from the dreams you told us about last year, they came when Voldemort was feeling particularly violent or angry. This time he wasn't even in the dream," Hermione remarked, frowning slightly. "So that would suggest that there is another reason behind your lack of dreams, and why you had one then."

 Harry groaned. "You're right! Now I have to try and get to talk to Dumbledore again, and that'll be next to impossible," he remarked.

 "Well, you do want to find out what's going on," Hermione pointed out, going back to a book she'd brought with her.

 "You're right, of course. Well, why don't we go and perform that prank on the Slytherins, hey?" Harry said a moment later, when no more questions came up from either of his two friends.

 He let down the wards as both of his friends nodded in agreement. Quickly checking the Marauders Map, which he carried with him everywhere, careful to keep a cloaking spell on it, in case he dropped it, he made sure that no one was nearby when they exited the room.

 They hurried down to the dungeons, Ron remarking cheerfully to Hermione, "See, some good did come out of the Polyjuice Potion, at least we know where the common room is now!"

 "Panther knows where it is anyway, since he's a member of the staff," Hermione pointed out icily, reminded of the time that she had been half transfigured into a cat back in their second year at school.

 "Hush up you two," Harry hissed at them, dragging them both into a shadowed corner as Pansy Parkinson swept past, pug-like nose in the air as she went to dinner.

 A quick relieved grin spread over the pranksters faces as they headed quickly for the dungeon wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

 Harry held up a hand to stop his two friends and, using a combination of Wandless and Elemental Magic, wove the prank, and then carefully hid the spell so that it could not be taken off by anyone except him, or another master of Wandless Magic, working with an Elemental Mage, as Harry was the only person alive who had both talents.

 "There," he murmured. "This prank will get me up a bit with Sirius, from now on we can do ideas as we think of them, since I don't need to prove to Sirius that we are just as inventive as the Marauders were. It's much more fun when you actually have to sneak into the rooms to do these things."

 "I'll take your word for it," Hermione remarked coolly. "I'd rather not find out first hand."

 Ron and Harry both laughed softly as the three of them headed quickly for dinner, none of them having eaten since breakfast. In the Great Hall, they split up, Harry heading up for the teachers table, as he hadn't eaten there for some time, and Ron and Hermione to the Gryffindor Table, to spend some time with their friends in Gryffindor.

 "Where were you?" Sirius asked Harry softly as the boy sat down beside him.

 "Setting up some fun for the Slytherins in the morning," Harry replied. "Well … they might not think it's much fun, but the rest of the school will have a good laugh," Harry replied.

 "What'dya do?" Sirius asked eagerly.

 "You'll find out in the morning, along with everyone else," Harry replied with a grin, his godfather punched him lightly in he shoulder. 

 "That's right, let your old uncle suffer! You've told me something's happening and now you wont tell me what, meany!" Sirius grumbled.

 Harry chuckled softly. "I'm proving that my friends and I can do just as good as the Marauders of old," he muttered in his godfathers ear. This made Sirius look even more interested. 

 "I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning," Sirius remarked, before returning to his food.

 After lunch they were taking the Gryffindor Seventh Years, and teaching them the Patronus, so Harry would be along with Sirius, because of his excellence at that particular defense spell.

 He waved a quick goodbye to Ron and Hermione, not being able to get close to them in the throng of students heading out of the hall. Ron and Hermione both had Herbology, followed by Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid and the Hufflepuff's again.

 Harry slipped silently into the defense room, watching with a faint smile as the students looked around, searching the shadows to see if they could find him – no one had succeeded yet, and no one would for a long time if he had his way.

 Standing silent beside the door, Harry watched and listened as Sirius told the class what they'd be doing that lesson.

 "Well, as you all know, a lot of the Dementors have joined Voldemort, and so you'll certainly be needing to be able to get rid of them when needed," he began. "There are many spells that you can use to get rid of Dementors, but the one that is so obvious that you already know about, is the Patronus.

 "Now, I'm a fair enough hand with the Patronus spell, and I'll demonstrate for you, using this Boggart as an aid."

 Sirius threw open the case which held a Boggart, rather like that which Remus Lupin had kept the Boggart in when Harry himself was learning the spell. The Boggart rose from the case in the form of a Dementor – there was a collective gasp from the students, and Sirius yelled "Expecto Patronum!" a silvery cloud came from his wand and the Patronus forced the fake Dementor back into the box.

 The class gave a small cheer. "Well, now you've seen my attempt, and that's a very good Patronus for any wizard. But I'm going to leave this part of your instruction to the Master – my nephew, James. James, want to come out and do a demonstration?"

 Harry inclined his head, stepping out from the shadows beside the door and surprising the students as he always did. Sirius once more threw open the case. Harry raised his wand, speaking in a quiet but firm voice – "Expecto Patronum!" and thinking of the fact that he lived with his godfather in Hogwarts. 

 The giant stag that was his Patronus exploded from his wand, the students had to shield their eyes as the huge shining creature charged the Dementor, sending it helter skelter back into its box.

 The class was left gaping in awe as the huge stag disappeared. "You see what I mean," Sirius remarked, voice slightly weak. 

 Harry smiled coolly. "Well, lets get started, shall we?" He asked pleasantly. The class actually stayed silent and paid attention to him while he explained the Patronus and it's casting, before calling them up one by one to perform the spell.

 By the end of the lesson, almost everyone had achieved a decent Patronus, and those who hadn't _had managed to produce something, though not up against a Dementor._

 In conclusion of the lesson, Harry smiled at them all. "Well done, you all have potential in this subject, and those of you who didn't manage it, don't worry, you'll get it sometime. If you want help, come and see my uncle, he'll direct you to me, and I'll help you as best I can."

 Then he slipped into a corner and 'disappeared' though in reality, he merely moved around to stand near the door. As usual, the class spent the last few minutes searching for him, and not finding him.

 When the bell did ring, Harry opened the door, bowed to the astonished class and slipped out of the room and down the corridor to the Library. 

 He was researching swords and blade masters, although he already knew quite a bit about them from his experiences at the Seekers Academy, some books only the Hogwarts Library held, and Harry could also use the Restricted Section of the Library whenever he felt the need to.

 This was a lot of fun, since he had never actually been _allowed_ to enter the forbidden section of the Library. He had been in once, sure, but that had hardly been a pleasant experience.

 Taking a book up to Madam Pince to borrow, Harry caught sight of Dumbledore entering the Library and quickly collected his books on swords, and one that was about various kinds of dreams, which he thought might be able to help him.

 "Albus!" He called softly to the headmaster, getting the venerable wizards attention immediately.

 "Ah Harry, what did you want to talk to me about?" The Headmaster asked him, keeping his voice soft, as it was a Library.

 "You know I was asking about that dream I had," Harry began, waiting for Dumbledore's nod of agreement, "well, I just realized, Voldemort wasn't in it, and before all of my dreams had Voldemort in them."

 "We must talk later, James," Dumbledore said, eyes flicking over the room quickly. "Come to my office tomorrow, during first period." The headmaster left with those words, while Harry cursed himself for an idiot. He'd been speaking out in the open, without even a minor warding spell.

 Shaking his head, Harry slipped away, moving quickly through the many secret passageways that helped him to maintain his reputation of 'disappearing'.

 Reaching a point that was close to a secret room, Harry lit the way with some Elemental fire and spread the Marauders Map on the wall in front of him, after first carefully placing the Library books on the floor at his side.

 "In the name of my father, I ask you to reveal your secrets," he whispered, tapping his wand against it. Immediately a single word wrote itself in a neat, flowing script across the page: Password.

 Harry sighed slightly. Sirius had told him about a spell that the Marauders had placed on the map so that their descendants could use it more easily, though it was slightly messy.

 He took out a pin and pricked the tip of his finger, pressing the minute wound against the paper so that a drop of blood touched the parchment as he whispered: "Prongs."

 Each of the Marauders had left different information, though the map was still fairly well the same. Harry's father had marked in some secret rooms that he had not told the others about, they all had their own secret rooms, Harry knew from what Sirius had told him, and he was going to his fathers.

 The password, however, changed every half hour, so he had to keep the map close to find out what the password was now.

 The room, once you managed to get inside it, was beautiful. Harry knew that his mother had done much of the decorating, and painted many of the pictures that lined the walls, as in the bottom of each was a beautifully drawn lily flower, with the name Lily penned above it, in gold.

 Harry paused for a moment, looking around the pictures. His mother had been a great artist, that was for sure – especially when it came to painting, and drawing flowers.

 One of them was of a Petunia, and the inscription at the bottom clearly stated that it had been done when his mother was ten, before Hogwarts.

 _Petunia and Lily – Friends Forever._

 Harry shook his head and settled down on the couch to read for a while. After a very short time, his eyelids started to droop, weariness overcame him and he slept.

 He was standing in the room, but it was different, two people where there – a young man who looked remarkably like Harry, and a young woman with brilliant red hair, pale, porcelain skin and vibrant green eyes.

 These, Harry knew, where his parents, Lily and James. Both were poring over a small book with a black leather cover and gold over the corners and spine.

 His mother was writing, her pen flowing neatly across the page, and James appeared to be speaking to her. Both wore the badges of Head Boy and Girl, so Harry knew that they were both in their Seventh Year, and from their dress, they were about to go to Graduation.

 Lily smiled as she finished the last word and closed the book, locking it with a pretty golden key, which she slipped beneath one of the cushions on the lounge, before placing the book in a secret compartment in the wall.

 Harry noted that she just pressed in the correct brick, and was careful to remember which one it was. In the compartment were several other books, all bound in a similar fashion to the one that Lily put in. For a moment he saw the inscription: _Lily Evans and James Potter, on the cover._

 Unfortunately, this was not the end of his dreams.

 The world around him swirled and changed. When it came into focus again, Harry wished that it hadn't. Voldemort stood in the center of a circle of Death Eaters.

 As he knew the Potions Master well, Harry easily picked out whish of the figures was Snape, and it was not too difficult to find which was Lucius Malfoy, either.

 "My faithful Death Eaters! Tonight I will make a strike against the petty fools who oppose me, one that will shake them up and pave the path to success! Tonight, we attack Hogwarts…"

 Those words sent shudders around the circle of Death Eaters, and one of them – not Snape, Harry noted coolly, considering that he had just had quite a shock, stepped forward. "Master, why have you told us this only now?" He asked.

 "Do not question me, insolent human!" Snarled Voldemort, raising his wand. The unfortunate Death Eater screamed before the Dark Lord even began the Cruciatos Curse. 

 Harry was jolted awake, his scar burning viciously. He shook himself and stood quickly. As he did, he removed the small illusions that he had used on himself. 

He sent a quick burst of light that only Sirius would be able to see, as the man had the senses of a dog and it was different to anything that a human could properly detect. Just to make sure, he added a slight scent to the call, one that only Sirius's nose would pick up on.

 As he did this, he hurried from the room, heading to meet his Godfather at their rooms, which was where Sirius would head for.

 Harry was the first to arrive at the rooms, so while he waited he checked on the many weapons that he kept about his form. The many knives, in his belt, boots, armpits, around his wrists, the likely spots, but there were many others too.

 He had a collection of throwing stars, his two swords were a comfortable weight, crossed over his back, he had never been stronger with Wandless and Elemental magics before now.

 Suddenly the door flew open and Sirius loped into the room, panting slightly. "What's happened kid? It had better be good, I was eating, and you know the penalties for interrupting me and food without a good reason!" his godfather threatened, though he smiled as he said it.

 "Is Voldemort attacking the castle any time now a good reason?" Harry asked, turning to face his godfather. Sirius immediately noted that all of the illusions Harry had previously used were gone.

 "Yes," he replied immediately, and began checking his own weapons. "What do you know about the attack?" Harry repeated his dream quickly. 

 "I know it's not much to go on, but … there they are!" He was keeping an eye on the map, and saw as several Death Eaters made their way on to the grounds.

 Sirius nodded his head. "Take the illusions off me too, please. If I'm going to fight, I want them to know who their up against!" he said.

 Harry smiled. A moment later two figures clad in the robes of graduates from the Seekers Academy bounded from the room, heading downstairs quickly, wands drawn, Harry held a throwing star in his left hand, and Sirius a dagger.

 The pair of them had just reached the Great Hall when someone spotted the Death Eaters. There was a moment of mass panic, but both the warriors were relieved to hear Dumbledore's voice ring out, magically magnified. 

 "Will everyone please calm down! Prefects and Head Students, come out to the front please! Aurors, be ready to accompany the students! Everyone, you've been through the drills, now lets put them to the test!"

 The headmaster spoke truly, they had had numerous drills on what to do in the event of a Death Eater attack. With sighs of relief, Harry and Sirius slipped from the castle, out onto the grounds.

 The students would remain in the Great Hall, which would have protective spells raised by the Professors – they would have been moved to the Common Rooms if there had been time, but no one was sure how fast the Death Eaters would get here this time.

 There was a momentary panic when everyone realized that Snape and the two Defense teachers were missing, but Dumbledore calmed everyone down, saying that he knew where all three were.

 "Do you really know where they are, Sir?" Hermione asked the Headmaster softly. 

 "I know where Severus will be, but as for Peter and James … from what I know of them, they'll be out there in the action, protecting the school," Dumbledore replied sadly. "I just hope that we'll see them all again come the end of this fight."

 The two newest Gryffindor Prefects nodded sadly and turned to the window, to see if they could catch sight of their two friends out in the fray.

 Suddenly there was a flash of light outside, and a fire ball a meter in diameter sped into the Death Eaters. There was a collective gasp from the students and Aurors as the scene was lit up.

 Dementors and Death Eaters stood side by side, ready to fight. In the lead, looking fearsome and terrifying was Voldemort himself. Suddenly there was another flash, this time though, a Patronus burst from the darkness that had gathered outside, for while Harry had slept, the night had crept over the landscape.

 The Seventh Year students who'd been doing Defense that morning recognized it immediately. "James is out there!" One of them muttered, and soon the whole crowd was murmuring the same, searching to see some sign of the Professor's nephew.

 It was not long before they did see someone, though the boy out there looked like a cross between the young man known as James and the boy that the Gryffindors had seen, Harry Potter, and with different characteristics to the both of them. Taller, slimmer, with a gymnasts build, they could see the tell tale swords crossed over his back, but it was his companion that made them stare.

 It was unmistakably Sirius Black, and he seemed to be fighting to reach the boy that no one recognized, although both Ron and Hermione knew they were looking at the true form of their friend Harry Potter.

 Sirius's behavior on reaching the other was surprising.

 He did not try and attack the other, but rather stood back to back with the boy, fighting viciously and giving the Death Eaters something to think about.

 The great silver stag that was 'James' Patronus galloped around the battlefield, keeping the Dementors back, which made things much easier for the two battlers. 

 Suddenly a spell lit up the sky, Voldemort was bowling the Death Eaters left and right as he came forward to deal with the two fighters himself, since his followers didn't seem to be doing much of a job of it.

 Back outside, Harry was fighting with a cold ease. He'd used up his throwing stars, and hadn't had time to use the recall spell that he had placed on all of his weapons. 

 Suddenly he saw Voldemort baring down on himself and his godfather, the Dark Lord raised his wand, and though Harry could not hear the words over the noise of the battle, he knew what the spell was.

 A moment later, as Harry had known it would, green light exploded from the wand. Harry watched as it raced towards him, fear tightening his chest muscles till breathing was almost impossible.

 As the spell bore down on him, Harry felt as if time itself slowed, and though he knew that people said you saw your whole life rushing past you when death was coming, Harry did not.

 Suddenly he felt a stab of helpless rage against the dark lord who made him feel so helpless with just two words. He opened his mind as he never had done before, calling on his magics, both Wandless and Elemental, but not placing the mental wards that he usually would to control the powers that lay at his command.

 The last thing that Harry saw before darkness claimed him was a flare of bright green and golden lights. And then he knew no more.

********************************************************

I like that cliffie! And if you're all nice little boys and girls and review, I'll have the next chapter up before you know it!

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I now have 230 reviews, 34 of which I got for this chapter – you guys are great! Special thanks to my beta reader, Queen of the Jungle!

~WolfMoon~


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten:

 Harry felt the darkness that surrounded him becoming lighter, and tried to reach out for a Light Elemental to help him, but the moment he contacted the magic, the world went black again and he lost all ability to think.

 "I could have sworn I saw him stirring a moment ago!" Sirius Black said, staring hard at his godson, "I think he might have sighed, and then he went out again!"

 Sirius was one of a select few who was allowed into the Hospital Wing, the Professors, Ron, Hermione and Madam Pomfrey being the only other ones.

 Harry had been unconscious for the past two weeks and it was making everyone nervous. He wasn't dying, physically he was at the peak of good health, but at the same time he could not be awakened.

 Everyone was waiting his wakening for different reasons. Ron, Hermione and Sirius so that they could be sure he was ok and would live, because they worried for their friend, hundreds of reporters, Ministry Workers and most of the rest of the Hogwarts population was waiting to find out what had happened out on the battlefield that fateful night, they worried for the life of their hero, who they now knew to be Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived – Again.

***Flashback – Sirius***

 The green light was bearing down on him, and he knew and accepted that he was going to die. At least when he died, he would know that they did not think he was a Death Eater anymore, and he was content.

 But suddenly a flash of golden light that he sensed came from Harry exploded into being, and he lost consciousness.

 The next morning he awoke in the Hospital Wing in a mad panic – what had happened? Was Harry all right? Why wasn't he dead? Why was he here, being treated by the Hogwarts nurse?

 "Relax, Sirius," the soft, soothing voice of Dumbledore came from the bedside. "The Aurors who saw you fighting got you and Harry out of the battle, Harry is alive, by the way, but I'll talk more of that later. Did you know that all of the Death Eaters disappeared with that flash of light that somehow managed to stop the Avada Kedavra from hitting the two you?" The headmaster added in a conversational tone.

 "WHAT?!" Sirius exploded. "Avada Kedavra! But that's impossible, surely?"

 "Apparently not. Oh, and your trial is in three days time, the new Minister seems to think that you deserve it," Dumbledore added standing up.

 "Trial? Malfoy's letting me have a trial?" Sirius demanded, eyes narrowing as if searching for the trap.

 "No, I said the _new Minister. Lucius Malfoy was found dead on the battleground, in Death Eater robes with the Dark Mark on his forearm. We haven't had time to call a vote yet, but the two people running for Minister are Arthur Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher. Both know that you are innocent and are working together until such time as a proper vote can be called," Dumbledore replied. "Get some sleep now, you'll need to be rested for the trial."_

 With that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was gone and Madam Pomfrey came bustling over. "Really … telling you all that when you've only just woken up … I remember you at school young man! Always in here with something or another, what with all those pranks you and that James Potter played …"

***End Flashback***

 Now Sirius had been proven innocent and set free. He'd been questioned under Veritaserum, as had Ron and Hermione, and now there was a full fledged hunt out for Peter Pettigrew, it was even more fierce than the one that had been going on after Sirius had escaped two years ago.

 Now all that remained was for Harry to wake up. Then the world would be, in Sirius's mind, perfect. Sure, Voldemort was still at large and people were dying every day, but so long as Harry was all right, Sirius didn't mind nearly so much.

 And his godson had been about to wake, he'd been sure of it. Sirius shifted himself in his chair, eyes never once leaving Harry's face. He paid little attention to the sounds of the other people in the room. Was Harry's eyelid flickering, oh so slightly?

 _Yes! It was. Sirius immediately stood up. "Poppy, I think he's waking up," he said. The Hogwarts matron came quickly, and smiled when she looked at Harry._

 "So he is, Mr. Black, so he is. Since he is physically fine, though completely exhausted, I will leave you, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger to speak with him for a while, but do not let him get up or strain himself!"

 With that the fierce little woman returned to her workroom, leaving Harry's two best friends and his godfather to watch his slowly awakening form.

 Harry was rising again. Dimly remembering the last time, he did not try to reach for magic to push away the darkness, merely waited. He could hear soft voices speaking somewhere above him – what were they saying?

 He strained his ears, wanting to hear what they were speaking of, and to know who they were. Finally he reached a point where he could hear them properly, but then the voices stopped. 

 With an inner growl of annoyance, he tried to open his eyes. It took a ridiculously long time to remember how, and then summon the energy to do this simple task.

 When he had his eyes open, he found himself looking into the concerned faces of friends and family. "'Ello," he mumbled, his tongue not working right. 

 "Harry!" The voices were relieved. Harry thought for a while, before he remembered who they were. They seemed to realize that he didn't want to speak – or couldn't at the present time.

 Instead they talked to him, their words triggered many memories for him, he soon remembered who they all where, and most of his life as well. Some areas were still blank, awaiting the right words to trigger the memories. He had no doubt that he would remember eventually.

 They told him of what had happened while he was unconscious, of how long he'd been out, told him how brave he was to fight the Death Eaters like that, but they said nothing that would require an answer from him.

 After what seemed like hours, they were shooed away by a motherly looking woman with a fierce glint in her eyes. Before he left, Sirius looked over at him and smiled. "Nice prank on the Slytherins, kid," and then he too was gone. Harry remembered the woman now, Madam Pomfrey; he remembered also that he was in the Hospital Wing. In Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 Madam Pomfrey held a cup up to his mouth, and before he'd even realized what he was doing, Harry had a mouthful of liquid, which he swallowed. 

 The blackness crept up at the sides of his vision again – sleep though, not unconsciousness. 

 It was a full week before Harry could stand up and move around on his own, the first day he could, he moved back to his rooms next to Sirius's.

 Sirius was still the Defense Teacher, and the Gryffindors loved him all the more, with the knowledge of his past pranks and the fact that he was Harry Potter's godfather.

 Everyone knew that the boy in the Hospital Wing was Harry Potter, what no one knew was what had happened to James, as Sirius and Dumbledore had decided to keep that information until Harry was ready to reveal himself.

 Harry remained in his quarters, never leaving, food and books and such brought to him by his friends or the House-Elves.

 At the end of this week, he resumed his training with weapons, as he'd gotten quite out of shape and needed to build himself up again.

 It was soon after this that Harry slipped away one night, using his Invisibility Cloak, as he still did not have the strength to use his Wandless Magic.

 For a start, he wanted to be in the room of his fathers, a place where he really felt in touch with his parents, and also to get away from the corridors of Hogwarts, with students and people everywhere.

 When he got there, he remembered the other thing that he'd wanted to do – and that was to look at the books that he'd seen in the hidden cabinet. 

 When he reached the room, however, he discovered that he could no longer remember where the cabinet was hidden. Swearing softly he sat down, and picked up the books that he'd left there weeks before.

 Oh well, at least he could catch up on things that he had been meaning to do so long ago. He remembered the dream he'd had of the Orphanage, and had wanted to get back to the book anyway.

 Opening the cover he began to skim read till something caught his interest – this was a good way of finding things out if you knew what you were looking for.

 He did find something fairly soon after he'd opened the book.

 _Dreams of particular people can come to a person who is linked with another by something. Depending on what the link is, they can dream of different types of people._

_ If a link was created by love, for example, a person who is feeling very loving, or the person they are linked to is feeling very loving, they might dream of one another._

_ If a link were created in violence and hate, this would lead the person who is linked to them to have dreams when the person is being violent or feeling hatred about something._

_ When people are linked together, sometimes they become more perceptive in their subconscious minds to the feelings of others. Sometimes abnormal dreams may occur or places where tragedy has happened._

_ This is particularly true if the person who is linked to the dreamer was the one who performed the task or set up the scene. This can lead to the talent of Seeing, if a person becomes very in tune with higher thought patterns. _

 So, Harry thought, that must have been what happened with the dream before Hogwarts was attacked. Odd … he was feeling sleepy again.

 Was another dream coming? Or was he just tired from his walk here and possibly doing too much work while he was still a little out of it from his latest visit to the hospital wing.

 He settled against the lounge and closed his eyes, and sleep washed over him. He dreamed, but it was a different dream to those he'd had before.

 _He was in a beautiful clearing; the trees and grass were the green, healthy colour that can only be achieved in dreams. The world wasn't that nice a place._

_ He stood there for a while, looking around, there was a pool in the centre of the clearing, and like the colours of the surrounding plants, it too was surreal._

_ For a while he walked around the clearing, then, suddenly, the two people he knew to be his parents appeared as well, laughing. He could hear them, their voices, just as he could hear the movements of the water and the gently rustling of the wind in the trees._

_ "Harry! Finally, you made it!" James cried, as Lily embraced her son tightly._

_ "What do you mean?" Harry asked his father. "Made it where?"_

_ "Wait, you look far older than a first year, what year are you in?"_

_ "Fifth," Harry replied._

_ "But didn't Sirius teach to work the map before then?" James demanded with a slightly frown._

_ "Sirius was in Azkaban for twelve years after your death," Harry replied. "Peter framed him, faked his own death and got away. Sirius escaped at the beginning of my third year, and we met at the end of that same year. He found Peter – he'd been hiding as my best friends rat – and told us the true story of what had happened._

_ "We were going to prove that he was innocent, but Peter escaped because it was full moon and Remus was with us. We'd all forgotten about it, when we discovered Peter._

_ "Sirius and I barely escaped with our souls, there were Dementors around the school grounds – everyone thought that Sirius would try and kill me. _

_ "He was captured, but me and my friends helped him escape on the back of a Hippogriff that was about to be killed because a Malfoy insulted it and it attacked._

_ "Since then we've kept in contact. Voldemort came back to power at the end of my fourth year and killed a friend of mine, Cedric Diggory. We were both competing in the Triwizard Tournament and one of the Death Eaters had turned the Cup into a Portkey._

_ "Later on I was accused of killing Cedric Diggory – Cornelius Fudge, the old Minister of Magic – was an idiot who was in love with the power of his office._

_ "Anyway, with Sirius I escaped from the Dursley's and we were on the run when we met up with Shadow Master, the leader of the Seekers Academy._

_ "Both Sirius and I are 'Seekers' or Graduates from the Academy and Sirius is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher as Peter Black, an American who's been in England for some months now. Fudge was killed by Voldemort a while ago and replaced by Lucius Malfoy._

_ "Then a short time ago I came to this room and dreamt of the books that you were writing in, but then the dream changed to one of Voldemort and he was about to attack Hogwarts._

_ Harry told them of the battle and how he had somehow managed to deflect Avada Kedavra once again, and of what he'd learned since he woke up, careful to tell them that Sirius had been proved innocent and still had his job._

_ Throughout this talking, he'd been interrupted only by the growls of quiet rage from James Potter, who looked positively furious as most of what had happened to his son._

_ "Well, at least he has been proven innocent now, darling," Lily told James when Harry told them of Sirius's latest achievement._

_ "Good prank you played on the Slytherins, kid," James added proudly. "Just the sort of thing a Potter male should do. Potter females are, more often than not, the voices of reason."_

_ Lily shoved him playfully._

_ "Anyway Harry, we need to talk to you now," she said to him, James nodded in agreement._

_ "You saw those journals, that's good. The key is beneath the lounge and you just have to push in the brick that's third from the left of the door and level with the door handle. You'll learn some things from reading those – we have to go now. Come back again soon, hopefully we'll be able to come and meet you here!"_

_Then the dream world began to swirl, out of focus, and Harry opened his eyes._

 He was seated on the lounge in his father's secret room in Hogwarts. Slipping his hand beneath the cushion, his fingers found the metal that was the key.

 He smiled faintly and stood up, pulling his hand with the key in it out from behind the lounge before turning towards the door. He glanced at his watch and swore softly, he'd been away for four hours, Sirius was going to be worried out of his mind.

 The journals would have to wait for another day. He carefully marked the brick that he had to push with a stroke of red magic that would show to his eyes alone.

 He headed quickly back to his room, where Sirius was pacing a hole in the floor. Not literally … at least, not yet.

 "Where were you?" He demanded the moment he saw it was Harry.

 "Dad's room," Harry replied, and Sirius said no more on the subject – the other Marauders Rooms were no business of anyone save those who were chosen to go there.

 "I'm going back tomorrow for a while – don't miss me if you don't see me for a day, maybe even two, I'm not sure," he added.

 Sirius looked about to protest this, but then bowed his head. "So be it. Take food though, no house elf would be able to find out there," he said.

 Harry just looked at him. "I'll take my wand," he said finally. "I see no point in taking food when I can just magic it."

 Sirius again looked about to protest. "Relax Sirius, I can do this. I have to," Harry told him.

 Sirius hesitated a moment before nodding his head with a sigh. "I don't suppose you can tell me why?"  
 Harry shook his head, sitting down on the bed. "Oh, and Dumbledore's coming by soon, he said you wanted to talk to him about something?" Sirius added.

 Harry nodded his head. "If I fall asleep, tell him it doesn't matter too much any more."

 Sirius nodded once and disappeared to teach a class. Dumbledore arrived in the early evening, but found Harry asleep, and left again.

 When Sirius came in to check on his Godson the next morning, he found him, and his wand, gone. He knew where his godson was, so he didn't mind too much.

 "I just wished he'd said goodbye or something," he remarked to Ron and Hermione at breakfast.

 The Slytherins turned up, and everyone knew immediately that Harry had played another prank – or at least, that someone had – all of the Slytherins had signs on the front of their robes saying 'I love (insert name)'.

 Meanwhile, Harry himself was in his father's room, finally getting a chance to open the hidden cabinet.

 Inside were many journals, but Harry knew instinctively that his key would fit only one of them – his own parents one.

 He reached in and took out the top book, but as he did, another book, and a key, appeared beside it.

 Harry blinked, but picked it up anyway, along with his parents one. Carrying them both over to the couch he sat down and slipped the key into the lock on the cover.

 Immediately the book fell open. 

_30.1.64_

 _If you are reading this, then you are a child of the Potter line – I know not your name, nor your gender, but to enter this room, you must be my child._

_ As you will know, my name is James Potter, and like the rest of my family, I found my way to this room. I had to find it on my own, and I presume you did the same. _

_ It feels odd to be talking to you – I know nothing about you, save that you will come here one day and find this book – Potter's always do. I have read my fathers journal, though I cannot read my grandfathers or anyone elses, I do not have their keys._

_ I am in my fourth year at school – it's hard to imagine having kids one day, after all, I'm only fourteen. Father didn't find the room till he was in his Seventh Year, so I beat him by three years._

_ I can't stay too long, as it's almost time for Quidditch practice. You'll be a Quidditch player, I bet. Potter's almost always are. I'm a Chaser, but I play Keeper, and Seeker too, if I have too. I'm not much good at Seeker, but I can do it._

_1.2.64._

_Grr. I hate Lily Evans; she's a fiery red head who's in my year. I don't know how she got into Gryffindor – she'd do better in Ravenclaw, or maybe even Slytherin … although she is a Muggle born, so she probably wouldn't be very popular if she'd gotten into Slytherin._

_ She turned my hair green and silver – GREEN AND SILVER! Slytherin COLOURS – this morning, and when I asked – I even said PLEASE – her to take it off, she told me that it'd last until next week!_

_ I mean, sure I changed her hair to Ravenclaw colours, but she should take it as a compliment! Everyone knows that smart people are in Ravenclaw… even though I don't think she's THAT smart …_

_ Well, me, Sirius, Peter and Remus will get her back … Well, maybe not Remus. He's the sensitive one of the group, and seems to have befriended her. _

_ She doesn't have many close friends, half the male population follows on her heels like lost puppies … I suppose she is pretty, but she always wears the _worst_ clothes and goes around with her nose in a book all the time …_

_ Oh sh*t, dinnertime. Oh well, I'll come back later …_

Harry kept reading for some time, laughing about his father's exploits – pranks, detentions, arguments with Lily Evans, who Harry was pretty sure, was his mother.

 In fact, apart from the first, there wasn't a single entry that didn't include something about Lily Evans.

 When he reached the middle of fifth year, things started to get interesting.

_5.4.65._

_Guess what! Today I kissed Lily Evans. I've been hanging out with her a lot more lately, since, as I said before, she has to tutor me in Charms and I her in Transfiguration._

_ She's really quite nice, and a decent teacher too. I never guessed how lonely she was. Today she broke down crying. When I asked what was wrong, she told me it was her parent's funeral._

_ I didn't know her parents were dead; but apparently they were killed by that idiotic dark lord, Voldemort or something, in her first year here. I remember the time now. She used to get REALLY mad at me when I teased her about things and always looked sad. I never guessed._

_ Well, I hugged her, and she seemed really surprised. After a little while, her whole story came out. Her parents and younger brother are dead, her older sister had been at her boyfriends place, so she was alive. But now Petunia hates Lily because she thinks it's Lily's fault that their family is dead._

_ I didn't know what to do, she just kept crying, so I decided to kiss her. Actually, it was quite pleasant; I don't think she's been kissed before, for all almost all of the male population asks her to EVERY dance. She hasn't been to one of them yet._

_ There is a dance coming up soon, at Easter time, I asked her if she'd like to go with me – we'd have to dance together once anyway, since we are both the Gryffindor prefects, but this way she might actually stay for the dance and enjoy herself for once. _

_ And guess what! She said yes! I'm surprised at how happy I feel. Oh well, I guess sometimes things just happen like that. Sirius will be happy, he's been saying that we are 'perfect for each other' since third year._

_ I guess he could see farther than either Lily, or me, but strong emotions do seem to cloud judgement and hide truth._

_ Well, I'd better get going – it's nearly dinnertime and I'm STARVING._

 From then on, everything seemed to go pretty well in his father's life, until the start of sixth year, when his own parents were killed.

 It was in Seventh Year, however, when things started to change dramatically. The first change was that Lily joined James in writing in the diary.

 _15.9.67_

_Well James, you journal seems to be very interesting. I had no idea you hated me so much –_ here there seemed to have been a struggle over the pen, which Harry found very amusing – _ok, ok, I'll write properly now – happy? Good._

_ I, Lily Evans, will one day be a Potter, it seems. James proposed yesterday, and I said yes. Dumbledore said that I have a lot of magical power, then he told me to leave so he could talk to James – he's been asking about the proposal – I don't know what was said then._

_ James has dragged me up here to tell me about his family. You, having read the rest of this diary, will know a lot about that. The traditions, powers and such._

_ But there is one thing that we only just learned of ourselves. One of the charms on my braclet seems oddly attracted to a lock on the back of this book, and when we put it in the lock, it opened on an entirely different book! It was amazing … I've heard of books like tha… no James; I'm not going to start one of my 'speeches'._

_ Anyway, it told of an old tradition of the Potter family. When they become strong enough, there are different times, and some of them have to find the key to another lock, but you won't, we don't think._

_ Well, the tradition is that Potter's go back to Atlantis for a while, the Ancients can teach us things about our magics that we never dreamed before._

_ Since this line of Potter's are a direct blood descendant of__ Goodrich__ Gryffindor their family tree has a reputation for defeating Dark Wizards, this training is often necessary. _

_ James doesn't think that he has the power to defeat this new Dark Lord, Voldemort, and I have to agree – it'd be suicide. But you, presumably our child, should have the power, as my magical powers are on a level with James's._

_ Anyway, you'll find a book at the bottom of the pile in the cabinet that the key that appeared with a book when you got this out for the first time – that's for you to write your story in, by the way – anyway, that key will fit in the lock. _

_ This book has a page for every day of the year, including leap years. Find the day that is for you now and touch the picture on the book. This will transport you to Atlantis._

_ Beware of the surprises that will you find there – I can't tell you what they are, since for a start, James and I aren't going until tomorrow, but we are forbidden to say anything more than has been said. _

_I have one thing left to add to you – Good Luck._

When Harry glanced at the time after reading almost all of that book – there were only a few more entries, which, after a quick scan, turned out to be mainly about the last year at Hogwarts, a few pranks, detentions and then Graduation, when the entries stopped.

 He stood up and walked over to the cabinet again, were he took out the book mentioned and opened it with his own key. It was as his parents had described, and he slipped through to find todays date. When he did, he saw a picture of a bolt of lighting, and was somewhat surprised, though if he could believe what his parents said, there would be many more of them.

 He touched his hand to the page and immediately felt the odd sensation of the world turning to swirls as it spun round and round, making him feel very dizzy.

 Then suddenly with a brilliant flash of red and gold, it stopped, leaving him in a place quite unlike anythign he'd ever seen. The whole atmosphere was completely different to the one he was used to. The air was cleaner, the sun a brighter, whiter glow in the sky.

 Around him was a world that was surreal, like the world that had been in his dream. Suddenly a young man, about Harry's age, came running up. "Hello, you must be one of the Potters," the boy said. 

 Harry, slightly surprised, nodded his head. "Oh good! And I'm the first one to meet you to! My friends will be jealous," it occurred to Harry that the boy was not speaking English. It also occurred to him that he knew exactly how the language he _was speaking worked._

 "Yes, my name is Harry Potter and I have no idea what just happened to me," he told the boy, a faint smile playing at his lips.

 "Well of course not! It's part of the Rules," the boy replied lightly, his stormy eyes dancing cheerily. "Come with me, the Lord and Lady are waiting," he led Harry off at a quick pace that Harry would have had no trouble keeping up with before his battle with Voldemort, but now, having still not fully recovered, found it a little taxing, though not too bad.

 It did not take them long to reach a huge beautifully crafted palace, which seemed to made mainly from gold and silver. The boy accompanied Harry as far as the entrance and nodded to the guards standing on either side of the door. "It's a Potter," he said, before darting off, presumably to tell his friends about meeting a Potter, though Harry couldn't tell what was so great about it.

 "Master Potter, by what name are you known?" One of the gaurds asked him.

 "Harry, son of Lily and James," Harry replied, not sure where the last part had come from.

 "As most names from your time seem to be, that is somewhat inapropriate. You will choose your own name later on."

 "I am sometimes known as Panther," he added.

 "That is better. For now you are Panther," the other guard said. "Follow us please," with that he walked off, at what Harry was relieved to see was a sedate pace that he could easily keep up with.

 They walked through many corridors and hallways, Harry had to gape at the beauty that surrounded him within this castle, paintings, flowers, sculptures, all were perfect in every way.

 Finally they came to a door carved of oak and inlaid with gold and silver flowers, real flowers growing up the sides added to the beauty. One guard opened the door and walked in, speaking in the language that Harry somehow knew.

 "There is a new Potter here. Harry was his birth name, and Panther a name he has been called," the man's voice rang out calmly.

 A moment later he returned. "You may enter, but you must give up your weapons," he said, holding out his hands for them.

 Normally Harry would have fought like a mad thing at being asked to part from his weapons, but he knew he could trust this man. The man seemed very surprised at how many weapons he was carrying, and in the end had to call another guard to help him carry all of the weapons away.

 Harry, left on his own, gulped and pushed the door open. Stepping into the room, he found, rather than the inside chamber he'd been expecting, but a garden so beautiful it nearly made him cry.

 "Welcome to this place, Panther," a soft, lovely voice called out to him. Harry turned and gaped, for surely this was his mother! And beside her a man who must be his father.

 "No Panther, we are not your parents, but we are who they would be had things turned out differently in your world. This place is an alternate plane of reality; we are Lilith and Jaram, the rulers of Atlantis. This world never suffered the dissaster that yours did, and therefore we lived on. Evil has no part in this world and therefore Voldemort never reigned," the Lady, Lilith, said.

 "We were not here to meet your parents, just as our child is not alive to meet you, for time passes differently here, and you will remain here until you have learned what you must learn, though only a day will pass in your world, no matter how long you spend here," added Jaram. 

 "You may come here only three times in your life, though perhaps … no, I will not say. Come, you are in need of proper medical attention," Lady Lilith said, smiling at him.

 Harry's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully.

 "You have been through much lately, it shows in both your physical condition and your mental one. Our doctors, as you would call them, are the best in this world and in yours. Then again, even the aprentices here know more than those who are in your world. Come though, we do not mean to insult, we merely state the facts. You will feel better here after you have been treated," Lady Lilith said calmly, slipping her hand beneath his elbow and propelling him gently from the room.

 Harry, thinking for a moment of struggling, forced himself to relax. She ruled here, and he was a newcomer who did not know the rules.

 A moment later he was delivered to another room, where a young man with pale grey eyes and snowy hair waited for him. "Ah, you will be Panther. Very little escapes notice here, you will find, so get used to everyone knowing about you," he advised.

 "My name is Karanolth, I am a doctor and I am supposed to look after you, which could be difficult. Normally I dislike using spells to heal patients, but from what your body has been through … I think you need some magic work," he added, frowning slightly.

 "Sit down please, I will need to get some things, I was not expecting such a challenge today, so I did not come prepared with what I now know I'll need."

 Karanolth was gone before Harry could say a word. With a sigh the boy sat down on the seat that the doctor had indicated, feeling somewhat nervous. What exactly was happening to him?

 He thought back to the conversation earlier, with Lilith and Jaram. Apparently this place was what would have happened if Atlantis had not sunk beneath the seas. But what was going on here, it was so different from his world, how many things had changed and how many where the same?

 A moment later his thoughts were interupted by the re-entrance of Karanolth. "Hello there!" the doctor said cheerily. "Now, I want you to lie back and close your eyes for a moment." Harry blinked as the chair he was sitting on morphed into a bed.

 With a slight shrug, he lay back as the doctor asked, and close his eyes. Something cool and gentle was laid on his forehead, but he could no longer open his eyes. He was sleepy … so sleepy.

When he reopened his eyes, it was getting dark outside, and lamps were lit. They were balls of white light that hung in each of the four corners of the room, and lit it up perfectly.

 Karanolth was leaning over him. "Ah good, your awake again!" the doctor said, smiling. "You should be fine now, your energy reserves are higher than ever and if you just do some work with your body you'll be back in perfect shape in just a week or so!" The doctor said cheerefully.

 "What happened?" Harry asked warily. "I feel wonderful, certainly, but I have been trained to regard everything I do not know of as suspicious at best." 

 "I used the horn of a Unicorn, given freely by the creature, with its healing powers still intact. The unicorns healing powers restored your health and energy, cleared your mind of its worries and fears, this put you into a sleep so that it could work at it's best," the doctor explained. 

 "Thank you, Doctor," Harry replied, bowing his head slightly.

 "Please, call me Karan," the man said coolly. "It's easier to remember than my full name, and you'll be in my company for the first part of your stay here, so we may as well be on first name terms, Panther."

 "Very well, Karan," Harry agreed, nodding his head. "So what am I here to do? I know nothing of this place save what I've been told, none of which makes all that much sense."

 Karan laughed gently. "Of course not, all the Potter's say the same thing. Now, this whole world is called Atlantis now, and as you know, this is what would have happened had Atlantis not sunk beneath the ocean and been lost forever.

 "Our people have spread out and all the countries and colonies of this world have joined with ours, we are standing where, in your time and world, Hogwarts would be located.

 "Our entire population is magical, there are no … Muggles, I believe you call them in your world. Healing practices are the most important things that we learn here, not just the spells but also the meanings behind them and when it is best to use lesser magics to heal. Everything here has some magic in it," Karan explained to him.

 "I'll show you the guest rooms, then we can go and eat something, as it is nearly dinner time now," he finished.

 Harry, managing to follow that, put it carefully in his mind so that he would be able to access it with ease should he need to again. They went to the guest rooms and Karan showed Harry the room he would occupy.

 The room had just enough space in it not to get that empty feel that a too large room with too few things inside it got, but not too small that it felt overcrowded. 

 The wardrobe was filled with light coloured robes, blue, purple, green, red, yellow and the like, each with a matching belt. "You'll find shirts and pants in the drawers," Karan remarked, pointing.

 "Now, I'll leave you for a few minutes to have a shower and get changed into something more sutible for our world, then we'll go to dinner."

 Harry was about to ask the question of where the shower was, but found that Karan had dissapeared. He looked around the room and found a door marked with odd markings, though Harry knew immediately that it meant shower.

 Gathering some clothes, he stepped inside the room and gaped. This place was more high-tech than anything he'd ever seen. After a moment of gazing at the shower with an expression similar to that of a persons first visit to a new city, who is attempting to find something but has no idea where to start looking.

 Then he looked closer and decided to attempt to work out how the thing worked.

 He soon found that it was quite simple, if you wanted the water to change temperature, you touched you palm to a pad on the wall, it read your body signals and adjusted the water to the correct temperature. 

 If you wanted there to be a stronger pressure, you touched the pad beside it and it performed the same service. When he stepped back into his own room, he felt more refreshed than he ever had before.

 He was dressed in pure white pants that were comfortably loose, along with a shirt in the same colour that fit perfectly. The green over-robe he'd decided to wear matched the colours of his eyes, and the golden trim went well with it. The sleeves went down to his wrists, beginning to flare out when they reached the elbow, and by the time they got down to the wrists, they were quite wide.

 He wore soft black leather boots and stepped out of the room with a calm appearance he by no means felt. He felt naked without a weapon on.

 Karan was waiting for him, and Harry was relieved to see his two swords were with the man. He'd left them in the room when he went for a shower and had come back to find them gone.

 "You may keep these," the man told him. "The rest of your weapons have been taken away and will be returned when you leave this place, but these are attuned to you, and I doubt that they or you will appreciate being kept apart."

 Harry smiled gratefully, strapping the two swords over his shoulders once more. "Let's go to dinner then, Karan," he said.

 The man led the way down to the dinning hall, which turned out to be yet another huge room with walls of silver and gold, big enough to fit about ten thousand people at it's various tables.

 Harry was shown to the high table, but just as he was about to sit down, his eyes fell on someone at the other end of the table and he nearly fainted.

 Karan noticed his shocked face and turned to ask what was wrong. Unfortunately, the man who'd startled Harry came over and asked the same thing, at which Harry promptly did faint.

********************************************************

Hmm. Wonder who he saw … well, that's for me to know and you to find out!

Thanks To:

Athenakitty, Jordan, kateydidnt, Rachel A. Prongs, Jess S, atalante, Lord R, IceDrake, wquad, Hermione HP, Dog Stars Crush, phenixrising, princess55, ??, Queen of the Jungle, blackunicorn, catatonicreaction, Queen of Redwall, justagrl, Confesser Kahlan, ettedanreb, Old Fawkes, Katy999, Clare, Them Girl, bigdaddy753, ALPHA WOLFE, Queen of Redwall, Songbreeze Swifteye, Crab Apple Fairy, Mr. Happy Java Man, Harmoni, and michelli! Thanks guys, 33 more reviews! Only another 38 and I'll have 200 – I'm happy! Be nice and review please!

~WolfMoon~


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

 Harry woke up in his own room, Lilith and Jaram were sitting with him and he blinked at them. "Peter!" He suddenly exclaimed, about to leap to his feet again.

 Lady Lilith placed her hand gently on his arm, pushing him back down onto the bed. "We told you, Panther, that the world you know differs from our greatly. Our friend, Mus Muris, startled you, and we looked into your memories of him to find out why … he asked us to say that he is sorry for what happened. He thought it best that he did not come, as it might startle you more."  
 "I am sorry," Harry told them. "But it just startled me so much … Peter Pettigrew, as you must know by now, betrayed my parents."

 Lilith nodded her head. "But here he is different, your other friend, and godfather, is also here, after a fashion, his name, actually, remains the same as it did in your time, as his form is a dog. Mus Muris means rat, or mouse, and as that is the form that he takes, this was the name that he chose for himself."

 "Some things don't change," Harry remarked. "But you two don't have names to go with your forms, surely?"

 "We would have, were we anyone but who we are. As the ruling couple we keep the names that we were given at birth, all rulers here have no defined form after they take the throne. Both of us can change into any animal we like, therefore a name such as the others choose would be stupid," Jaram replied calmly.

 Harry nodded his head. "So, you want me to choose a name for myself on the same grounds," he guessed.

 "Yes, if you would," Lady Lilith nodded.

 Harry thought back to the Latin lessons he'd had at the Seekers Academy. "How about Pardus Fulgor-Oris?" he said, this mean Panther Lightning in English.

 "A good choice," Lady Lilith murmured, while Jaram went white as sheet. Harry was about to ask what was wrong when one of the guards appeared at the door. "My Lady, my Lord? There is a Council Meeting in ten minutes," he said.

 Lilith and Jaram stood up immediately. "We'll come back, Karanolth should be around later," Jaram told the boy and hurried from the room with his wife.

 Harry sighed faintly. Another question that was conveniently put away for another day. When the two monarchs were gone he stood up and had a shower, dressing in the style of this world.

 When he stepped into the corridor, Karan was about to knock on the door and ended up knocking on Harry's head. 

 "Oh! I'm sorry!" Karan cried out, eyes widening.

 "It's ok, just a little tap," Harry replied with a faint smile. Karan nodded in agreement. "So what are we doing today?" Harry asked his guide.

 "Well, I thought that you might like to see the Garden of the Spirits … I warn you, surprises lurk there, though I've no doubt that you will find them nice ones. If you choose to go there, I will not accompany you – the things you experience in the gardens are your own to tell when you are ready."

 "Well … Very well, I'll see this Garden of the Spirits place," Harry said after a moments thought. Karan nodded and led the way down the complex myriad of passages that made up the palace.

 Finally they reached a small wooden door, beautifully crafted, yet almost plain. "The Garden of the Spirits," Karan said, smiling slightly. "You'll know why it's called that when you enter," he added, and was gone before Harry could say anything.

 Harry sighed and pushed open the door. He wasn't sure why he was trusting Karan – or anyone here for that matter – when everything he'd been taught since the beginning of the holidays screamed to trust no one. Those lessons had been ingrained deeply in his mind, why would he just allow himself to forget them?

 He sighed. Maybe it was that here real evil such as Voldemort did not exist. He strode through the open door without a backward glance. Inside Harry stopped dead – this was an exact replica of the dream world where he had met his parents.

 He overcame his surprise without a pause and stepped forward calmly, hiding his surprise completely. He walked into the room-garden place and stopped when he reached the centre of the clearing.

 Unnoticed until now, Harry could hear soft voices in his mind, growing louder, as if the speakers were approaching him. He looked around, but saw no one. _I can't be going insane! I can't!_ He thought to himself.

 'You are far from insane, my child,' a gentle woman's voice spoke into his mind. 'We have not been heard by mortals for a long time now … I suppose it is coming time for the gift to rise again.'

 Harry thought hard – he'd heard the voice before. The phrase 'my child' caught his attention. 'Mother?' He asked the voice in his mind. 

 'Yes, my son. It is me, Lily. Your mother!' The voice – his mother! - seemed happy that he'd worked out who she was. 'You will come to know us all – we are your parents and grandkin, and we all want to have a part in the legend that is your life.'

 Harry blinked. 'My life is no legend,' he protested, laughing.

 'To you, perhaps not, but to us … we can see you, for you are us and we are you, in some ways.'

 'What do you mean?' Harry asked sharply. Suddenly the garden around him exploded in colour and sound. There were people everywhere. 

 Almost all of them had the unmistakable Potter characteristics, the others he knew where those who had married into his family.

 "But…" he stammered. "How are you here?"

 "Doesn't the name of this place give any hints? Spirits can come here and converse with the living. That's one of the reasons we can talk to you here. But you can hear us in your mind … that only gives me the assumption that you can hear us anytime you want to. Talk to us even. But we can test that out later! What's your name here?" Lily replied, excitedly.

 "It's Pardus Fulgor-Oris," Harry replied, and Lily smiled.

 "When we came, James was Prongs and I was Vixen," she remarked, smiling in remembrance. "We had a great time here, didn't we James?" She remarked to the man beside her.

 "Yeah, it was wicked," James said with a grin. "You wouldn't believe what these people know about things! Actually, you can help out one of my friends, Remus –"

 "I know him, he was a teacher at school for one year," Harry interupted. "We found out about his condition too."

 "Ah, that's good. You see, there is a cure for Lycanthropy here, and when you leave, you can only take a few things with you, we had more … I won't say, important, but things that would help lots of people, not just our friends when we came here. So we took them instead," James explained.

 Harry nodded his head. "And you want me to take back the cure for Remus when I leave?" he asked them after a moments thought.

 "Yes, if you have nothing else that you must take for the good of the world," it was Lily who spoke this time. "Let me introduce you to your family," she continued.

 Harry spent the next several hours there, meeting many people in his family, and learning a lot about them. 

 When he pushed open the door to leave again, his head was a whirl of names, occupations, faces and voices. He shut the door wearily, and saw Karan waiting for him.

 "Hello," he said to the doctor, who smiled and nodded in greeting.

 "Pardus, I was wondering if you would like to see our training yards?" Karan asked, and Harry nodded enthusiastically. Karan led the way, laughing at Harry, who was bouncing happily across the room, looking incredibly happy about this.

 When they reached the training yards, Karan left, saying that, as a doctor, he had little to do with fighting, and would leave Harry in the hands of the experts.

 Harry stayed there for the rest of the day, even in the Seekers Academy, he'd never had such a good work out. These people were as good at fighting as they were at healing.

 By the end of the day Harry was completely worn out – it didn't help that he was still recovering in energy and stamina from when he had fought at the attack on Hogwarts.

 "You should get some rest, come back tomorrow afternoon, it was fun," one of the men who Harry had been fighting with suggested with a smile. 

 Harry smiled and nodded back, walking outside to once more find Karan waiting for him. "I thought that you people didn't like violence?" he said to his guide.

 "We do not support violence against other humans and life forms," Karan explained. "But we do eat meat – it's needed for a balanced diet – and so we have hunters who kill and such, and also many people see it as an excellent way of keeping themselves fit."

 Harry nodded in agreement. "I can see what you mean. And the moves that you use in there are not ones that would be used to kill. I can see how they could be changed to use to kill, but I won't bring the hate from my world into this one."

 Karan smiled. "You really must tell me more about your life, Pardus," he remarked. "It seems very interesting, and it must have been somewhat hard, for you to know how to change a move to series hurt or kill someone."

 "My life was hard, and with the Death Eaters rising again, being able to kill someone might mean the difference between life and death. I hate killing," Harry remarked. "I mean, I was trained as a weapon for death, but I still hate it."

 "That's because your on the light side, Pardus," Karan told him gently. "If you liked killing, you wouldn't be the Hero of the Light side, would you? I know that there are some who are killers who do the Light a good service, but they are more easily persuaded to join the dark side."

 Harry sighed. "You people have an answer for everything, don't you?" He remarked, green eyes dancing.

 "Quite right," Karan replied with a grin. "Perhaps you'd like to eat your room tonight? Mus Murris is still here, and I understand that you a little nervous about him?"

 "Yeah. For tonight I'll eat in my room. Will Mus Murris be here long?" Harry said after a moments consideration.

 "Yes, he should be hear for the next week or so. Why?" Karan replied.

 "I would like to meet him. In my world he was a friend of my parents until he decided to betray them. Here, then, he will be a friend of my parents without the factor of betrayal, so I would like to get to know him at least a little," Harry explained.

 Karan smiled and turned, leaving Harry at the door to his room. Harry walked inside, thinking of what he had done that day. He'd never felt so good as he did here. The magic that allowed him to know when to trust people was singing of trust now, and it was very pleasant. No one here lied, which made his head unburdened by those magics that had given him headaches in the Seekers Academy with all the lies that were told there. 

 He walked into his room and flopped into a chair, removing his sheathed swords from his shoulders so that he could lie down in comfort.

 He asleep before dinner could arrive, and the person who'd brought it to him simply left again, taking the food with them. Harry slept easily throughout the night, dreaming of nice things for once.

 In the morning he was woken by his parents voices in his mind. 'Come _on_, wake up kid!' His father said impatiently. Harry shot upright. 

 'I guess I can hear you even out of the garden,' he remarked to the voices in his mind.

 'Sure looks that way,' James agreed. 'Now can you get up, get dressed and all that stuff! I want to see how things have changed here!'

 'James, be patient. For once in your life,' Lily grumbled.

 'Why? Being patient is boring,' James replied cheerily.

 'You are supposed to a parent James Potter,' Lily told him firmly. 'You are not setting your son a good example.'

 'Since when does any Potter male give _anyone a good example?' James retorted. 'Don't listen to your mother kid – she'll turn you into a law abiding goody-goody in seconds if you let her!'_

 Harry smiled. He could see he was going to have an interesting time with these two in his mind for most of the time. Blocking their argument, he got himself ready for the day and clipped on his swords.

 He sat down and read for a while, before Karan came to get him. "I thought today we could go to the science labs," Karan remarked. "For the first little while you'll just be shown around, see what we can do with things here, and then you'll start learning it. By the time you leave, you'll have learnt all that you wanted to learn while you are here – you get to choose what you want to study, and what you don't."

 Harry nodded his head. "Ok, let's go the Science Labs then," he said with a grin. 

 At the labs, Harry saw the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. It was a cross between the Muggle Science, Potions and Alchemy. Looking around, he saw people doing all sorts of things, making various different liquids, solids, gasses and the like.

 "What are all of these for?" he asked Karan, eyes wide and amazed.

 "To further our learning. Besides, there are some things that continue to effect us, even though we are far more advanced than what you are used to. Different things will always spring up, illnesses and such. We are simply trying to keep one step ahead," the doctor replied.

 Harry easily spent the better part of the day here, looking at everything, and even then, he didn't see the half of the things that there were to see. 

 Harry managed to find his own way to the training courts, though Karan stayed by to make sure he got there alright. Once there, Karan left, and Harry did a solid three hours work before he was sent away from the courts before he dropped.

 Karan was once more there to collect him and get him to his room. The next day was a resting day (rather like Sunday) so Harry would meet up with Mus Murris and get to know the man who, in Harry's world, was responsible for Harry's parents deaths.

 Harry slept soundly through the night and woke in the early morning. Karan was not there to wake him up, but Harry usually woke up early anyway.

 He was reading when a soft knock came at the door, Harry went and opened it to find Mus Murris on the door step. He stood back to allow his visitor in.

 "Hello Pardus," Mus Murris said, his voice was gentle, almost kind. "How are you adjusting to life here?"

 "Well enough, Mus Murris," Harry replied, smiling faintly.

 Mus Murris nodded. "Please, call me Mus," he said. "I understand that you want to get to know me, because in your world I was once your parents friend?"

 "Yeah. But then … things happened. Voldemort came, lured Peter – that's the name of your other world person – to the Dark Side … and now if I tried to get to know him, I'd probably end up Voldemort's prisoner," Harry said with a sigh.

 Mus nodded sadly. "Before we get any farther in the conversation, I would like to apologise for the qualities that this Peter lacks," he said.

 Harry spent that day with Mus, and found that the other man, while soft spoken and sometimes hesitant, was a nice enough person who was quite funny. If Peter Pettigrew had been like this, he could see why his parents would have been friends with him.

 Over the next month, Harry learned to find his way around without Karan's help, he became firm friends with Mus, Sirius, and the man that was Remus in his world, called Lupus here.

 Lupus had taken the cure for Lycanthropy, what it did, Harry had found out, was to subdue the power of the wolf, change it a little and that would turn it into an Animagus transformation that could occur whenever the person wished it.

 Harry was glad, for Lupus was a lot like Remus, but younger, the hardships of life had to taken the toll on him that they had on his other being.

 He'd also made friends with several of the children who lived nearby, they just called themselves whatever they felt like, not having an Animagus form or defining talent yet, so names were liable to change every day.

 Harry had been relieved to find that Quidditch was as popular here as it was in his own world, he joined one of the kids teams – they didn't really have competitions, just played whichever of the other teams that they felt like.

 Quidditch was odd with his father screaming 'go! Go! Go!' every time  he saw the Snitch or dived or something, and listening to his mother trying to make him shut up, but Harry got used to it remarkably quickly.

 Harry was fast becoming something of a legend at the training courts now, since he had completely gotten over the weakness he'd had at his arrival, and he was learning everything they could teach him faster than they could believe, although he had had a lot of former practice, so that could easily explain it.

 Harry was studying everything he could while he was here, and his days were completely taken up. Rest days were for Quidditch or hanging out with Mus, Lupus and Sirius.

 He'd almost forgotten the look on Jaram's face when he'd told the Lord what he'd decided his name would be, and every time he had the opportunity to talk to the pair of them, he forgot about it again, which was annoying.

 Now Harry knew how to make the antidote to Lycanthropy, but knew that he'd never be able to replicate it in his own world, because most of the fact that only a very few of the ingredients could still be found in his time and world.

 Spells and potions took on a whole knew meaning and understanding, Harry could see the beauty and delicacy required to mix the potions for maximum effect, though with Snape as a teacher, this had never been apparent.

 In the months that he spent in Atlantis, Harry had never worked so hard or well in his life. Nor had he enjoyed himself so much. He made many friends here, and loved them all – at Hogwarts he was never sure if the people who wanted to be friends with him wanted to be friends with Harry Potter, their school mate, or Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. Here, though, he was accepted.

 It was almost four months later that Harry saw Her.

 She was beautiful, long black hair shining in the sunlight, pale ice-blue eyes that were at once chilling and warm and friendly, she was tall, almost six foot, her skin was flawless and she moved with perfect dignity and grace.

 Her name, he found out from one of the boys on the Quidditch team, was Sky Dawn, and she was a well known heart-breaker. Oh, she certainly never really realised that men threw themselves on the ground at her feet, or went giddy with excitement if she so much as smiled at them, she never realised that pretty much every man on Atlantis was smitten with her.

 She was a studier of Animals, and knew more about them than any of her teachers, she could call them to her, speak almost all of the animal tongues (speaking to animals was a fairly common thing in Atlantis, although many did not have the time to learn the many languages they communed in.)

 She never paid much attention to anything beyond her studies, and the only time she noticed the menfolk was when one of them fetched her something she needed, or she needed their help with some operation she was performing.

 She was even prettier than Cho Chang, Harry thought to himself, and in that moment he realised that his long time crush on Cho Chang was finally at an end – he knew that they'd never work out together, he didn't want to try and take Cedric Diggory's place in her heart.

 But he did know that she was the one that he'd love all his life, even if he could never have her, since he did not even belong in this world … sometimes he wished he did – the dangers and negative emotions that pretty much rules his world were all but non-existent here, and, truth to tell, he liked it.

 He knew that it could never be, however. It was approaching the time that he would have to leave – he was remembering things from his world now, thick and fast the memories came, threatening to swamp him.

 Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram had told him this was a normal sign that came near the end of a Potter's visit. Finally he knew that he would have to go that day.

 He approached the Throne Room, where he knew that he would find Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram. There would be no people around at the moment, there was an hour for a lunch break at the middle of the day.

 Harry walked in, his heart aching as he looked around the familiar palace walls. He felt safe here, and he knew that when he returned to his own home, 'safe' would be an impossible dream.

 "It's time?" Lilith asked, seeing the look on Harry's face.

 Harry merely nodded. "I've said goodbye to all of my friends here," he remarked, after the silence had stretched out a moment. The two rulers nodded.

 "Well, Pardus, it has been a nice visit. You are a ready and willing learner, and really, our people have taught you all that they could. You have learned perfect control of your Animagus form, from it's physical boundaries of strength and power, to how to fly properly and how to change in a split seconds notice.

 "You have learnt everything you can in the areas of Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Divination and many others. You are ready to go home," Lilith said, smiling proudly.

 "Almost."

 That was Jaram. Harry turned his head towards the man. "What do you mean, almost?"

 "I mean that is almost time for you to return to your home. But there is something that we must tell you first," Jaram sighed.

 "We suspected when you first arrived, and it was proved when you chose your name. Pardus Fulgor-Oris. Panther Lightning. You are one who has been long prophesized here," Lilith said, and her husband continued.

 "Back just after our world separated from yours, there was a prophesy, made by the same Seer who had warned us of the approaching danger in time for us to create a separate plane of reality to escape from the danger," Jaram said.

 "This prophesy spoke of the Potter's who would come to us for tuition, but it also spoke of someone special, in more ways than blood," Lilith told him. Harry immediately guessed that this was him. But what had the prophesy been?

 "It was said that one day one of the Potter's would come … one who would be changed during one of his visits here. It was not said how he would change, only that after the change took place, he would be able to travel between our two worlds at will, for ever," Jaram told him. Harry frowned. 

 A Potter could only come here three times in their lifetimes, it had always been this way. What could ever change that?

 "It is not known what that change will be, but it was time that we told you – in case the change happens when you leave, or when you next return… it is unknown. What three items from our world do you wish to take with you?" Lilith asked.

 "I would like to take my broom, one of the potions to cure Lycanthropy, and Lia," Lia was a baby Dothae, a species that seemed to be a cross between a wolf, a unicorn and a fairy.

 It had a body that was covered in wolf like fur, with build that crossed between wolf and unicorn. (for those of you who know neopets, it's a little like an Ixi in build) it had a horn, and two large, butterfly wings that it could use for flight on its back.

 They were near impossible to kill, for when they died of anything but old age, a new baby was created in the fur and would grow up just like it's 'parent', which, in fact, it was. They lived for around one million years, but one of the females only gave birth once in a life time.

 Harry knew that Lily had taken a Dothae back with her, all he had to do was find it, and hopefully the species would be able to begin repopulating his world.

 Otherwise, he could always bring more back when he came the next time if he did not need anything else.

 "A good choice. You will find them waiting with your book in your room," Jaram said, smiling gently.

 Lilith hugged the boy who would be her son one day, and stepped back, unshed tears bright in her eyes.

 Harry looked at them for a moment, before turning and walking quickly from the room. They had never seen him cry – no one but Sirius had seen him cry, and he intended to keep it that way.

 Reaching his room, Harry paused for a moment to look at his reflection. He'd grown a lot taller in the months – almost year – that he'd been here.

 He was now six foot three, his body more powerful even than when he'd been at the Seeker's Academy, he'd gotten a tan, though his eyes – his eyes still held that expression of distrust, hidden now, but there. They were wary of everything, the touch of gold was slightly more obvious now, for he'd been working for a long time with Wandless Magic.

 He knew that when he returned to his world, he would be back the way he had been when he'd arrived in Atlantis, though some things would have changed.

 He'd be healthy again, for one thing, his eyes would remain the same, and the work he'd been doing with his body would have paid off, though it would not be evident physically.

 He reached the door of his room and pushed it open, he saw the three things that he'd asked to take back with him there, and smiled slightly. The book was beside them, it's key resting carefully on top of it.

 Harry saw that all of his things had been packed, and smiled when he saw that all of his weapons had been returned to him. He carefully arranged them about his body, before unlocking the book and dragging his things up close to it.

 Finding the days date, Harry touched it, and immediately the world swirled away before jolting back to reality. Harry looked around the room – it was Hogwarts.

 He smiled to himself then petted the Dothae baby gently to calm it, then gathered the few things that he'd taken with him, as well as those he'd brought back.

 He left most in the room, though he put the potion that would cure Remus of Lycanthropy in his pocket, after changing into the robes of the Seekers.

 Harry took off all of the illusions that had bound him, and smiled at the result – not even Ron and Hermione would properly recognize their friend now!

 He spoke to the Dothae, explaining that he had to leave it here for a little while, placed the books back in their holders, set the broom (of a much more advanced design even than the Firebolt) up against the wall and then walked out.

 Both of his swords were crossed over his back, and everyone could see that they were the blades of a blade master.

 Looking at the Marauders Map, Harry smiled to himself to see that everyone was at dinner – a good time for Harry Potter to turn up.

********************************************************

Ok, it's not as long as the others, but I thought that was a good place to leave off … see you all next chapter! Don't forget to review! *sniffs* I wish I had been able to think up a little better cliff hanger for you, NO ONE ever said that they hoped I'd be ok after my x-ray and bloodtest … 

Oh, and sorry for making Harry faint … I know it wasn't ALL that startling, but NO ONE EVER makes Harry faint from things like that *grins* so I thought I would.

Thanks To:

Wquad, dragonmaster, Rachel A. Prongs, atalante, icedrake, lexi-formerly Katy999, Bob33, BigDaddy753, Songbreeze Swifteye, MusicalHermione, Star Mage, silverleaf, fantasydima, SlytherinAtHeart, justagrl, Dog Stars Crush, Maxx77, Clare, Jess S, PhenixRising, etfrompo, athenakitty, princess55, Li Kota Dawn, Lady Prongs, Jordan, Pamel-Potter-24, Sugar Quill, Them Girl, Flying Goat, and melocketry! *puffs* 31 reviews! Just another 7 reviews and I'll have 300! Come on guys, be nice!!!!

Thanks to my beta reader, Queen of the Jungle!

~WolfMoon~


	12. Chapter Eleven

Sorry it took so long to get this out – Queenie still hasn't beta read it yet, but it was high time I got the chapter up anyway! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twelve:

Sirius was sitting with Ron and Hermione talking about Harry – he was explaining where Harry was – as best he could. It was difficult, since he couldn't tell them anything about Prong's room.

 Fred and George were also demanding his attention, since they'd found out that he was Padfoot – they were very annoyed at Harry, Ron and Hermione for keeping this from them, but since Sirius was perfectly happy to help them think up pranks, they didn't mind too much.

 The teachers still hadn't managed to stop the bath that anyone leaving the Slytherin common rooms got, so the rooms had been temporarily closed down and set of other rooms had been made available to the house.

 Just as Sirius had finished explaining the ideas behind the 'Marauder Rooms' the doors of the Great Hall opened and a warrior walked in.

 All talk immediately stopped as everyone turned to look at the young man who entered. There were several gasps – everyone knew that the blades were those only a blade master could wear, and he moved with the ease of a born fighter.

 His lithe form glided silently across the floor – everyone knew the robes he wore were those that only a graduate of the Seekers Academy wore, the uniform was one of the few things known about the illusive school.

 Draco Malfoy stood up and walked over, Crabbe and Goyle tailing him as usual. "Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy, the Ministers son," he said, holding out a hand.

 The warrior looked at the outstretched hand for a moment before answering. "I am well aware of your name, and your fathers former office. I believe, though, that he was found after a battle in the clothes of a Death Eater," his voice was soft and dangerous.

 Malfoy flushed, and stepped back a step to get out of range of the warriors swords. Sirius Black, Ron and Hermione were walking across the hall calmly, and Malfoy was looking forward to them getting taunted too.

 However, he was disappointed. The warrior actually _hugged_ Sirius Black. "Long time no see Sirius … for me at least," he remarked, and greeted Ron and Hermione in a similar fashion.

 Then he stepped back from them, shoving his hair out of his face, and the small lighting bolt scar was easily visible on his forehead. "I am Harry Potter, Seeker of the Seekers Academy, once known here as James Black," he said, voice ringing in the silence of the Hall.

 There was a gasp of surprise from the students, and most of the staff, and Snape's expression was even more hateful than when he'd been looking at James or Harry in the past at Hogwarts – now he had found out that his long time enemy among the teachers was actually his least favourite student.

 The teachers were all staring at Harry, since they knew that Seekers were very dangerous and _very _powerful. "How did you become a Seeker?" McGonagall asked him, eyes wide.

 At that moment Malfoy leapt at Harry's back with the idea of at least humiliating his rival by managing to knock him down. A blast of wind knocked him back and he was suddenly ringed by fire.

 Everyone saw Harry's eyes blaze with gold as he turned to face Malfoy. When he spoke his voice was cold. "It is very bad manners to attack without warning – if you are not a member of the Seekers Academy. I know a lot more about fighting than you do, and had we been in the Academy, it would be my right to kill you now … but luckily for you, I never did hold to those rules … otherwise a lot more than one person would have died."

 He dismissed the Elementals with his mind and returned his attention to the teachers. "I became a Seeker because I was good, Professor," he added, in answer to McGonagall's question. "As did my Godfather," he nodded to Sirius calmly, and at the same moment released his illusions.

 Now a second Seeker stood beside Harry. "It was well for me that I got word of Fudge's decision while Sirius was nearby, otherwise I might have been killed that day …" he remarked.

 None of the teachers seemed to know what to say to this, but they were saved from having to answer when Harry asked his Godfather and two friends to come with him, and left the hall without another word.

 With his friends in tow, Harry hurried swiftly from the room, his route taking them through several secret passageways and eventually ending up in his room, where he flopped down on the bed and waved a hand, conjuring seats for his friends.

 They sat down. "Where were you?" Sirius asked, bluntly.

 "In a world that runs parallel to ours, named Atlantis, a world in which the super-civilization of Atlantis was never destroyed. Almost all of my family has visited this place, to gain the knowledge that they needed to complete the task of their lives," Harry replied calmly, having set up wards on the room already.

 "Really? Wow! What happened there?" Hermione leant forward, eyes wide open and filled with questions. Harry smiled.

 "Calm down there! Time passes differently in that world, for me, it has been almost a year since I left here," he told them.

 "How interesting! I think I read something like that once …" Hermione mused. "But I can't quite remember what it was."

 "It was written by an ancestor of mine, I'm not sure what book you would have seen it in, but it was a very short entry, because he could not give much away – he was leaving it as a clue for his own children," Harry explained.

 "Anyway, Sirius, I really need you to do something for me – it's full moon next week, and I need Remus here _before_ then," he said to his godfather.

 "Why?" Sirius asked. 

 "Because I have a potion that will cure Lycanthropy here, and it must be in three sips – one the day before the full moon, one on the full moon and one on the day after," Harry replied. "I would rather not have to wait another month."

 "A cure!" Sirius shot up. "You could make millions with that!" He exclaimed.

 "I suppose I could, if the ingredients for the potion could be found on this world – unfortunately, they can't. The potion can only be made in Atlantis, where the creatures and plants that are needed to make the Potion are located," Harry replied with a shrug. "I can only heal one person per potion, and that person is Remus, as my parents meant to, but we can bring only three things back with us, and they had other things that were needed for the good of the whole world."

 Sirius looked a little sad for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I'll go then, but what about my class? Someone will have to teach it," he said.

 "I was hired as your assistant, this hasn't changed now that they know who I am, since Dumbledore has known pretty much all along," Harry pointed out coolly.

 Sirius nodded, changed form and left there and then.

 "That was quick," Ron remarked.

 Harry smiled faintly. "I know. Now, could you help me by telling me everything that has happened while I've been sick? I know you told me a lot of it, but I've forgotten much of that," he said to them.

  They kept themselves amused for most of the night talking of what had happened since Harry had nearly died, Harry smiled to hear of his prank on the Slytherins, and scowled when he found out that they had been moved out of the common room. "Well, we'll just have to think of something else then!" He decided.

 Ron and Hermione grinned. "Maybe something in Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Hermione suggested. "It wouldn't be favouritism if you asked him to do something he boasted he could."  
 "Like what?" Harry asked, interested.

 "Well, you're a Wandless and Elemental Mage, therefore you should be teachings us about Elemental and Wandless means of defence, Malfoy's sure to boast that he could do Wandless Magic," she replied.

 Harry smiled. "I think I can see where this is going. Leave it with me overnight and I'll have a foolproof plan by morning!"

 "Was there anything that you wanted us to do?" Ron asked suddenly. 

 "Yes, actually. I was wondering if you could get your group of friends together in the library tomorrow afternoon after classes – I am eager to speak with those who were ready to become your friends in memory of me," Harry replied, smiling at his friend.

 Ron grinned and nodded, then he and Hermione left, as they had homework to do. Harry went back up to his room and brought the few things he had there back down again.

 The Dothae, he asked to remain in his rooms in the teachers wing for the rest of the night, and promised that he'd take it outside come morning.

 The night passed without any real event, and Harry woke early in the morning to take the Dothae down to Hagrid, who would love the opportunity to play with a new beast.

 Harry ended up spending a little over an hour down there, talking to Hagrid, who was delighted to find Harry alive and well and back in the wizarding world – and in his real form too.

 Harry gave his friend careful instructions as to the care of the Dothae, before returning to his rooms for a training session like the ones he'd done in Atlantis – this included his Animagus form and spells, rather than just plain work of muscles.

 By the time he was finished, it was very close to breakfast time, so he went to the Great Hall. There was something different this morning, something that had been different since he got back … what was it?

 Of course! His parents voices weren't in his mind. 'Um. Guys? Are you there?' Harry asked them, speaking in his mind so that he didn't manage to convince the school that he was insane.

 After a long moment, his mothers voice replied. 'Yes, Harry, we are here, we couldn't find you when you returned, but now that you've contacted us, we have you again!'

 'Ah, that's alright then,' Harry said, as he entered the Great Hall. 'God. I'm teaching classes for a few days,' he added, feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

 'Don't worry! We'll help!' James said enthusiastically.

 'Great. Now I'm worrying even more,' was Harry's only reply as he walked up to the Staff Table.

 "Where is Sirius?" McGonagall asked, slightly concerned that Harry's godfather hadn't been with him.

 "He's out doing something, I'm taking his classes for a few days," Harry explained.

 The teachers looked surprised. "But you're a student," Flitwick pointed out.

 "No. I have not been asked to stop being a professor yet, nor have I been resorted into one of the Houses, therefore I am still a Professor, although when Sirius comes back, I would like to rejoin the ranks of students, if possible," Harry replied.

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course," he agreed. "But you are the best for the moment to teach Sirius's classes."

 Harry smiled at the headmaster and ate lightly before striding from the hall and up to Sirius's rooms. He was dressed again in the robes of a Seeker, and indeed, they were most likely the only ones he would wear for some time to come.

 Once there, he looked over the vague plans that Sirius had made for the lesson. It was with seventh years, so they knew a lot of things already.

 He noticed that Sirius had finished the topic he had been teaching them, and was a little undecided as to what he was going to do next.

 That left Harry at an advantage, as he could do anything he had the fancy for. He waited for the class to arrive, it was Ravenclaw and Gryffindor this time.

 "Now, I'm not sure what my godfather was going to teach you next, he doesn't like writing things down, so only he knows. Since he finished your last subject, so I think that it would be a good idea to work on Wandless and Elemental magics… this is my area of expertise, so Sirius was probably going to ask me to do something on it anyway," he explained.

 To his surprise, the class seemed to be _very_ interested in this. "What are we going to do Harry?" Fred called out.

 Harry looked down his nose at the twins, who were seated in the front row. "You will address me as Professor Potter, and you will put your hand up when you have a question," he told them, imitating Professor McGonagall.

 The glass giggled. "Silence!" Harry barked, changing to Professor Binns in a second.

 "Anyway, I want to see if any of you have an aptitude for either of the magics, if so then I'll have arrange for a teacher, as these abilities will be very useful in the war against Voldemort, for he does not possess many Wandless or Elemental mages," Harry explained.

 The class nodded in understanding – fighting Voldemort was a number one priority for everyone these days. The Dark Lord was really taking over in the months since he'd returned to power.

 "Ok, first of all, I'll tell you a bit about both magics, and what you can do with them – most people go there whole lives without ever even hearing that these magics exist – which is why if I can find a lot of people who can use it, we'll be at an advantage – very few people can perform the spell that is required to find out if someone is able to use either magic. Luckily, I am one of them."

 Harry spent most of the lesson talking about the powers that various elements possessed, and the many methods of using Wandless Magics. He neglected to tell them that he himself was a Wandless and Elemental mage. They might say something to the wrong person, and that would mean that Harry would become even more sought after by Voldemort.

 When there was about twenty minutes left, Harry began calling the class out member by member – he was surprised that Fred and George had actually behaved themselves throughout the lesson.

 Most of the class had a slight ability in both areas, but this was only to be expected, since even some Muggles had the ability. Fred and George both had talent for Wandless Magic, and could possibly do something with Elemental, and Cho Chang was the same. There were a few others who also had some talent the other way around. 

 All of these people would receive training, but the others would learn what he taught the whole class, just a few simple spells. He asked those with the larger amounts of power to remain after class. 

 "You all have more talent than most do. Therefore I will be teaching you all that I can about the magics that you can use," he explained to them.

 "But Harry, don't you need to have both yourself?" George asked.

 "I'm a mage for both of them, I have more power than anyone else who is alive at this time," Harry replied. "I did not tell the rest of the class, because they might have told the wrong person, and that would make me even more of a target than I already am."

 The seven who were listening gaped at him, awe and respect in their eyes. "And please, don't you tell anyone either, for the same reason," he added.

"Sure Harry!" Fred said cheerily, and the left to allow the next class in – Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years. This was going to be fun.

 A moment later the Gryffindors arrived from Potions, looking world-weary. "Where are the Slytherins?" Harry asked, annoyed that they were late.

 "Walking really slowly because they don't think that you can punish them for being late," Neville replied. The boy had grown a back bone in the past few months, which Harry was glad of.

 Harry waited for the Slytherins to arrive, and gave them a solemn glare of accusation, not once taking his eyes off them. They flinched away from him, and he nodded once.

 "You will not be late for my class again," he told them coldly. "Ten points from each of you who was late – one point per minute. In future it will be three points per minute."

 The Slytherins looked about to protest. "And twice that if you try and protest. You are supposed to be learning to fight, especially against Death Eaters, tardiness may cost you your life," he told them. "Sit down now."

 Cowed, they did as ordered.

 Harry began the lesson that he had with the seventh years. "All people fourth year and up will learn this – those who are younger than that might misuse the power, or hurt themselves or others trying to use it. In this and this alone you learn the same as those years above you."

 Harry was unsurprised to find that Ron had some power with both, since both his brothers had, he would be willing to bet that every Weasley had them. 

 Hermione had a strong talent for Wandless Magic, but almost none at all when it came to Elemental. Neville, however, had a very strong ability for Earth Elemental, and with a single question, Harry discovered that the boy was born under an Earth sign.

 Draco Malfoy showed some talent for the Dark Elemental, but as he showed none for the light, Harry decided to leave it and not teach him – it seemed to signal that Malfoy was going to join the Death Eaters, and Harry didn't want to hand them a ready made weapon to use against him.

 Blaise Zabani could use Wandless, and a little Elemental, just enough to need training. None of the other Slytherins seemed to have much talent in either area. He called the four people who he would teach to remain behind. He was unsurprised that so few had the talent, since it seemed to be almost in decline.

 'Mum, dad, what should I do now?' He asked them, since he'd dismissed all of the students. 

 'The Slytherin girl is waiting outside, I think she wants to talk to you,' Lily replied after a moment.

 'Blaise! Come in!' He called out, and the Slytherin entered, looking surprised.

 "How did you know I was there?" She asked, surprised.

 "That's one of my little secrets," Harry replied, a faint smile playing at his lips. "Now what did you want?"

 "Well, I couldn't say anything in front of the Slytherins, or the Gryffindors either … but if you are going to teach me, well … maybe we should be friends?" she offered a hand, looking as though she thought he would refuse.

 Instead, Harry smiled and gripped her hand. He could sense that he could trust her – not too much, but she wasn't lying. "Sure. Teachers can do better at their jobs if the students don't hate them," he told her.

 She smiled, as if she was surprised at his readiness to accept her, then darted off. Harry shook his head and headed for lunch, where again he ate at the Staff Table, since he was actually teaching now.

 Afterwards he had first years, and continued with Sirius's topic, which hadn't been finished yet. They were working on Boggarts and other magical creatures, so that was nice and easy, the last period of the day was free, and Harry went to the Library to return some books that he'd borrowed a while ago.

 Even now that he'd been revealed to be Harry Potter, Madam Pince didn't mind him borrowing books from the Restricted Section, nor did she look upon him with any less respect than when he'd been James Black.

 He waited here for Ron and Hermione to gather their friends among the students. Slowly they started arriving, from every house bar Slytherin, and all of the years above four. Ron, Hermione, Ernie and Hannah were the last to arrive, having gotten word to the rest of their friends, and making sure that everyone was there.

 "Hello Harry," Ernie said, almost shyly. No one was quite sure how to treat the new Harry Potter.

 Harry smiled in response. "Hi Ernie," he replied easily. "Now, doubtless you all want to know why I wanted to see you all, apart from getting to meet all the people who were so ready to support me," he added. There was a round of nods.

 "Well, it is my belief that we should get some sort of say in what happens in the Wizarding World, be able to do something about what's happening, and pass it on when our time comes to leave Hogwarts," he told them. "I think that we should form a sort of Order, like an adolescent form on Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix (I know it's been used _so_ many times, but since it isn't playing a bit role in this story, I couldn't be bothered to decide on a new name)."

 "That's a good idea," Cho Chang was the first to show her support. "But where are we going to learn how to fight? There isn't a duelling master here, and none of the teachers seem to be _that_ great."

 "I would be teaching you, perhaps with the aide of my godfather. We are, after all, graduates of the greatest school for the arts of fighting that is currently in existence," Harry replied, smiling slightly.

 Looks passed between them all. "Good idea," they all said as one. Ron was the one who spoke for everyone this time. "So let's get this straight, you teach us how to fight, the people who are leaving at the end of the year take that out into the world with them and teach it to those who can use the skills well, and those of us who stay here would be able to help defend the castle in the event of another attack, I guess that Voldemort will try and attack again, just the next time there will be a lot more of them."

 "That's about it. I can't teach you _everything,_ mind you, because some of it is stuff that has been the secrets of the Academy for time out of mind. If anyone who is in seventh year wants to learn that as well, I might be able to get you to the Seekers Academy," Harry replied.

 There were nods all around. "Great. Then the first lesson will be whenever my godfather gets back, as I think that he should be part of this too, and it gives me a chance to settle back into life in the castle," Harry said.

 For the remaining time until dinner, they all just talked of normal things and got properly acquainted with Harry Potter, the boy who lived, who they had been so quick to support when he'd been in need of it. He was fast friends with most of them – at least, as far as appearances could judge. In truth he had many reserves, though he could sense that they were all worthy of friendship, but trusting came hard.

 Dinner came and Harry returned to his rooms to practice for a short time, and then, in the darkness that had gathered, he slipped into the forest. He knew the speech of the unicorns now, and he wanted to ask for their help in finding the Dothae that his parents had brought back from Atlantis, it must be very lonely.

 When he came upon a herd of unicorns, they shied away, about to run. *Stop!* he called in their speech. *I would speak with you!* They edged slightly closer to him.

 *How is it you know our language, human?* the leader of the herd asked suspiciously.

 *I have been to an alternate world, named Atlantis, where speech between species is commonplace. I learned to speak with your kind there, and I would ask a favor of you,* Harry replied.

 *You are in no place to ask favours of us, human. Your kind has destroyed this world,* the leader snorted.

 *I do not ask this favor for myself, but for a distant cousin of yours – the Dothae,* Harry told it, and there was a collective gasp from the gathered herd.

 *The Dothae are long dead thanks to your kind,* the unicorn told him after a moment to get over the surprise.

 *Here, yes, but in the world that I came from, where I learnt to speak in your language, the Dothae are very much alive,* Harry replied.

 *What is the favour you want to ask of us? I will not necessarily carry it out, but I will listen, for the sake of my dead cousins,* the unicorn told him.

 Harry gave an inward smile. *My family has been able to do take three things back with them. My parents brought a Dothae back when they came, and I have just a few days ago. The problem is that I do not know where the Dothae my parents brought back is – they were killed so I cannot ask them. I wanted to ask you to help me find it, so that they do not remain lonely,* he explained.

 *We will do this. We do not require your help in searching, you would only slow us down. Leave here human, you make the herd nervous,* the unicorn told him, and Harry bowed before shifting form to fly back to the castle. The unicorns looked surprised, but they didn't have the time to call out to him, even if they wanted to.

 It did not take him long to slip in through the window of his bedroom and transform, shaking his head to dislodge some leaves that had stuck in his hair. He did a rather intense training session, which left him exhausted after the hard days work, and he fell into bed to fall asleep without another thought.

 The next four days past in the same sort of way, only seven of the Slytherins would become his students, and they, like Blaise, all asked to be friends after the first training session – they sensed that he could help them, and that if he was teaching people he didn't like, he wouldn't be very good at it.

 On the morning of the fifth day, he woke to find Remus and Sirius in the room, impatiently waiting for him to wake up. "He wanted to wake you up," Remus remarked, nodding to Sirius. "I told him not to."

 "Thank you," Harry replied, standing up. "I'm glad to see that some people are sympathetic and kind in this world," he looked pointedly at Sirius while he said this, who merely grinned.

 "Sirius told me you have a cure for me disease – do you really?" An almost feverish gleam came into Remus's eyes. Harry smiled, he knew what Remus had gone through, being a werewolf from such a young age as he had.

 "Yes Remus, I really have it," Harry smiled. "It has to be taken in three steps, one sip the night before the full moon, one sip on the night of the full moon – you won't transform – and once the night after. After that, the wolf will become your Animagus form, rather than a monster."

 "Thank god," Remus whispered, bowing his head, tears of happiness on his face.

 Two days later, Remus took the first part of the potion, a look of pure bliss swept over his face, under the watching eyes of Professors Snape and Dumbledore, and several Ministry workers who were very interested in the potion, and had come at Harry's request, to witness the potion and be able to prove that it had succeeded.

 They'd been talking with Harry for the past day, asking a lot about the potion and it's requirements, and had finally listened to his first statement – that it would not be possible to reproduce the potion on Earth for widespread cure of the werewolves among their society.

 The next day, the full moon, Harry went to Dumbledore in the early morning. "Professor, I'd like to be resorted now," he told the headmaster, and Dumbledore smiled. 

 "Are you sure that this is your preferred choice of action?" He asked. "I'm not trying to turn you from the path, but I really think that you need to be sure that this is what you want to do."  
 Harry thought for a moment. "It is. I would like to finish my schooling here so that I have the credentials from the O.W.L's and N.E.W.T.'s for when I want to get a job, and what job it is that I want to get," he answered after a moment.

 Dumbledore smiled happily. "That is a wise decision, although your credentials from the Seekers Academy carry no small amount of weight," he remarked.

 "I know that, but the credentials are different and a lot of people might not trust me for those credentials, or say that I somehow managed to do something special to gain them, young as I am. If I have the credentials from here, then I will have been under the eyes of people who have no reason to like me, and that way I will have proven myself to the world to be what I am said to be," Harry said, again after thinking for a moment.

 "I hoped that you would answer thus. You have proven that you are in many ways above those of your year mates, in the case of maturity and wisdom … although you still have some competition with your friend Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied, leading the way to his office.

 Harry followed, smiling. His answer had pleased the Headmaster, so much was incredibly obvious, and it made him feel very happy. He wondered why, and thought that maybe he was already returning himself to the role of 'student'.

 "You will be a Prefect of course, we will make an exception this year and allow Gryffindor to have three from your group, as we normally have only two," Dumbledore added thoughtfully. "You, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have proved that you work as an excellent team and rarely show favouritism."

 Harry smiled again. That would be good – one more over Malfoy. "Thank you Sir," he said allowed. He heard Dumbledore sigh softly, as the Headmaster realised that this _was once more the correct way for Harry to address him. Harry grinned, and barely concealed his laughter._

 When they reached Dumbledore's office, the gargoyle sprang aside, allowing them to walk up to the top of the stairs and enter Dumbledore's study. Harry's eyes travelled directly to the Sorting Hat, on the shelf above the headmasters chair, but quickly turned to greet Fawkes, the phoenix.

 "Hello there Fawkes, it's been a while huh?" He greeted the bird in its own language. Fawkes nearly fell of his perch in astonishment.

 "You know phoenix-speech, how is this?" the bird asked in reply.

 "I have been to Atlantis, where talking to the creatures that inhabit that world, which is an almost mirror image of this one, is considered to be a good practice to take up," Harry explained.

 "You are to be congratulated. I hope you can teach Albus to speak phoenix speech, for although we have little trouble in communicating, it would be nice to be able to have a proper conversation," the bird replied.

 Harry smiled. "I will do my best," he bowed to the bird and then turned his attention back to Dumbledore. "Fawkes wants me to teach you to speak Phoenix so that you carry out intelligent conversations," he told the headmaster with a grin.

 Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled. "That would be most enjoyable. I hope that you have the time at some stage, but perhaps now you would like to try on the Sorting Hat?" he remarked.

 "Yes," Harry agreed, allowing the Headmaster to place the hat on his head.

 _Hmm. Another year come and gone? The Sorting Hat's voice murmured in his ear. _It seems a little early for that … I haven't finished with composing the song yet …__

 _It is not a new year yet. You remember me don't you? Harry replied, laughing in his mind._

 _Ah yes! Mr. Potter, that's right. A tricky one to place, you were … and why are you back again … ah, I see now. Well … if you were difficult to place before, you are twice as much now. Your sense of loyalty and courage has grown, and you are obviously attracted to the Gryffindor House and share their loyalties, but your knowledge has gained considerably too, as has your Slytherin qualities. But I believe that it would be much to difficult for you to change loyalties now that you have been here so long, and have only a year a few months left to go now, so you will remain in Gryffindor! The hat spoke the last word aloud for Dumbledore to hear. _

 "Well done, Harry, well done," the headmaster smiled. "Did it say anything that you might want to tell me, or would rather it remain secret?"

 "Well, it said little that it had not said the first to times I tried it on. It always has thought that I would have done well in Slytherin, and now it thinks that I would do equally well in any of the Houses, as I have a lot of knowledge and a constant thirst for more, I have the loyalty of Hufflepuffs, the courage of Gryffindor and the slyness of the Slytherins, but in the end it decided that it would be to hard for me to switch house loyalties now, and left me where I was before, in Gryffindor," Harry explained.

 "You could have been great in Slytherin, I suppose," Dumbledore mused. "But you would not have learned the things that you needed most of you had been sorted there."

 Harry smiled and nodded. Dumbledore rummaged around in his desk, before coming up with a Prefect Badge. "You already know the passwords to the common room, and I will leave you with the knowledge of the passwords to the others, since that way in the event of an attack, you can give the aid that you can with more ease."

 Harry nodded in thanks and left the office, heading back to his rooms in the teachers lounge to pack up his things and to watch over Remus taking the second sip.

 "Now, before you take it, this time you will be changed into a wolf, and you will remain so through the night, but the transition will not be painful, nor will the change back, and you will experience none of the usual werewolf type symptoms," Harry explained, both for Remus's benefit and that of the Ministry workers.

 As it was approaching darkness now, Remus took the potion so that he didn't become a Werewolf and destroy the whole thing. It looked as if there was a slight breeze blowing over Remus for a moment, and Harry could just feel the tension growing in the room, and then, with a faint 'pop' he changed into a wolf, not the elongated, painful transformation that Harry had witnessed at the end of his third year.

 There was a wolf standing there now, it's fur a light brown with touches of yellow-gold and gentle brown eyes that were by no means filled with malice any longer.

 Harry smiled as Sirius changed form and held forth a paw, and the everyone in the room (with the obvious exception of Snape) burst into laughter watching the two beasts shake hands.

 "I think that perhaps we should leave them to explore in safety with one another," Harry remarked softly. "It is all they've wanted to do since their school days, when of course they couldn't, as Remus could not transform into a safe shape at any time, and only change form on the full moon."  
 Everyone nodded and they left the room. Harry went around to all of the teachers to ask if there was anything that he should do to catch up.

 Most of the teachers said that he'd go fine, and Harry was delighted to realise that since he had literally begun school again as a new student, he could choose his electives again.

 He this time chose Care of Magical Creatures again, Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes, since the last two were subjects that he didn't know much about.

 Ron was a little annoyed at being left with 'that old bat' in Divination, but said that he'd handled all year, and Neville was now pretty good company there, so he didn't mind that much.

 Hermione was thrilled that Harry was going to be doing something more in his league, rather than just bludging on Divination and Care of Magical Creatures as he had been before.

 Harry only rolled his eyes expressively at Ron when Hermione was looking, and the pair shared grins. It was good to be back as a trio once more.

 Harry had been told by all of the teachers except for Snape to just help with his friends homework and catch up that way for the moment, until he could rejoin the class properly, Snape, of course, gave him a ton of homework, Harry was fairly sure that it was every essay that had been given out that year, to do before the next Monday.

 It being Thursday now, most people viewed this as 'very unfair'. Harry, however, didn't mind too much since he knew that he would be able to do this easily, and he could get Ron and Hermione's help with some parts.

 Hermione didn't mind with helping in Potions, since Snape was being so unfair, but Harry knew better than to copy her work, as Snape would suspect that. He would just get points from them if he needed to.

 That night was spent in the Library with his now very large group of friends and associates, since the group of people who'd gathered to form the 'Young Phoenixes' as they were momentarily calling themselves, always met in the Library after classes to study together and exchange tips.

 Harry worked at a speed that astounded the other students, his pen (the quill was annoying him because it took to long to have to dip in the ink, whereas the Muggle pen didn't need to do that.)

 He'd go back to the quill when he'd finished all of this homework, but for now he didn't have the time to spare with ink. 

 By the time they went down to dinner Harry had managed to finish two of the smaller essays that they had started with and had done almost half of a larger project that had come a little later.

 He was determined to prove to Snape that this couldn't beat him. And it looked as if he was going to be the winner of his inner competition.

 Dumbledore announced that Harry had rejoined the student ranks at dinner, and that he had been resorted into Gryffindor, which everyone was happy about … well, except the Slytherins, of course.

 By the time he went to bed that night he'd completed the project and three more mini essays, and had developed a writers cramp, which he didn't feel like getting rid of with magic.

 Instead, he planned revenge on Snape for all of the homework as he lay in bed that night. He should be able to finish all of the work that Snape had given him over the weekend, and the next afternoon and lunch time … He hated the Potions Master.

********************************************************

I think I'll leave it there … the final stage of the potion to be up in the next Chapter, along with Harry's first class in with year! *grins* … finally!

Thanks To:

Flipnai, Destruxion, darkfire, GunSmoke, dragonmaster, Rachel A. Prongs, Jordan, The Red Dragons Order, Wytil, silverleaf, alamarang, alamarang, ShadowHunter, BigDaddy753, SlytherinAtHeart, alamarang, alamarang, wquad, alamarang, Tasidia, alamarang, alamarang, phenixrising, Sharp Edge, fantasydima, shadowseeker, Miranda Wecker, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Maxx77, Queen of the Jungle, Dog Stars Crush, duke of earl, Mysterious666, Jess S, Old Fawkes, Sugar Quill, etfrompo, princess55, JeZeBeL, Mr. Happy Java Man, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Skysong, Lady Prongs, potter_is_hot!, Laurabelle, Lord R, Sweets, Sweets, and giraffe!

*gasps for breath* FIFTY ONE reviews!! You guys are the best! Wanna do that again? *Grins*

~WolfMoon~


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen:

 The next morning, Harry started another of his Potions essays, before he had to go down for breakfast – he'd have both Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts today, as well as watching over Remus taking the last of his potion.

 First period, however, was Transfiguration.

 Harry entered, feeling kind of out of place, as he'd been the teacher for a long time, and because he was the only person in the room who was wearing something other than the school robes – he was still wearing the Seekers uniform.

 McGonagall gave him a fond smile as she took up her place in front of the class – all of the teachers were seemed that way towards him lately … it was kind of annoying.

 The lesson was easy – cross species transformations. Harry started off from a button, because it was slightly more interesting, and amused himself by changing the buttons form to various different predator-prey forms.

 The only other person who mastered it was Hermione, although Ron came very close. The whole class didn't pay much attention to Harry, knowing that he'd learnt this ages ago.

 McGonagall gave the rest of the class an essay on why it was so difficult to perform predator prey changes, and if they could find out why they'd encountered the problems that they'd had that lesson. Harry was told not to bother with this assignment, as McGonagall had seen the load that Snape forced upon his unlucky least favourite student.

 Harry left that class for charms, which also passed fairly easily for him. The class was learning a charm to hold faeries still, as the small magical creatures could be very hard to hold – it also worked quite well with pixies.

 Harry, Ron and Hermione wished they'd known this charm when Professor Lockhart had set them catching the pixies he'd set on his class three years ago.

 Harry hadn't actually learnt that spell, as Sirius had forgotten about it and it wasn't in the textbooks, but he mastered it very quickly – probably because he used Wandless magic rather than his wand, but he did take the time to master it with his wand as well. He'd done this by the end of the lesson.

 After the break would be potions, and Harry decided to hand in the assignments he'd finished so far. He completed the one he'd been doing before classes that morning in the break, and had now finished around a quarter of the assignments.

 He, Ron and Hermione went down to the kitchens to eat there rather than in the Great Hall, because Harry didn't like everyone staring at him – thanks to his time in the Seekers Academy, he was a very private person these days, and didn't really like all the attention he got.

 Also, the kitchens were closer to the Dungeons, and he and his friends arrived at the classroom just as the bell went, Snape wasn't there yet, so they couldn't be accused of being late.

 The rest of the class arrived not long after, and Harry sighed, realising that his house had lost its 'protector' in these lessons, since he was now a student as well as they were. 

 Oh well, he could still do some things to get at Snape, like getting things right, or helping Neville with his Wandless and Elemental magics. The poor boy was still a bit clumsy in Potions, and Snape still delighted in picking on him.

 Snape strode down the hall, looked slightly disappointed to see his class had all gathered, so he couldn't yell at the Gryffindors for being late, and led them inside.

 Harry settled away from Ron and Hermione, in fact, away from everyone at a single desk near the back of the room. Not as many people would look at him, and Snape wouldn't be able to accuse him of helping the others … even though he would be.

 Harry glanced at the board as Snape wrote the name of the Potion they were studying. Drought of the Living Death.

 He smiled faintly – Snape had asked him questions about that potion back on his first Potions lesson in Hogwarts, as he recalled. Well, he might not have known anything about it then, but he certainly did now!

 Without bothering to look at the ingredients Snape wrote up, Harry pulled out his things and began, not really noticing that everyone had stopped copying the recipe down and was staring at him, nor that Snape had actually stopped writing.

 "Potter, don't you think that you need a recipe for that? It is a very difficult Potion which requires precision and accuracy in every action you make," Snape snarled.

 "I am aware of that, but I also am aware of how to make this Potion, as a student of the Seekers Academy, trust me I know. We are trained to be assassins, and this is a very useful potion for an assassin to know," Harry replied, voice soft and almost silky.

 Snape glared for a moment, and the Slytherins look at him, seeming almost afraid – they'd forgotten that fighting was not all that people learned at the Seekers Academy. The Gryffindors smiled faintly, since it was a rare thing to see someone tell Snape something back like that, something that the Potions Master could not dispute.

 Harry made no move to press the issue as he returned to his work, and he could feel Snape's eyes on him for most of the lesson. This was good, since he wasn't watching Neville, and couldn't see the boy getting everything right.

 Harry used Wandless magic to make hints appear in front of Neville when the boy was going to get something wrong, but let the boy do things on his own otherwise.

 Snape appeared disgusted when Harry's potion turned out better than anyone else's, even his pet Malfoy. Harry knew that Snape had seen him put different ingredients in the potion to the ones that were on the board.

 Harry scarcely even looked at the board, but he could tell that it was the same instructions as were in the textbooks – at Seekers Academy, he'd learned a lot of things different to the textbooks, in fact, most of what he had learned there was different to the textbooks, and better too. But Seekers didn't share their secrets, that was against the Laws of the Academy.

 So on the way out, he reached out with his Wandless magic and touched Snape's mind, ever so gently with a memory modifying charm – immediately the teacher forgot that Harry had done anything other than what had been written on the board.

 Now it was time for Defence Against he Dark Arts, and with Sirius teaching, he'd have a ball. They were working on the Patronus charm, as Harry had finished the few things that people usually knew about Wandless and Elemental mages – most of it was lies, but he always said that it was 'supposedly' something or other. 

 Sirius had done the Patronus with the elder years, but now it was the turn of the Fifth, Harry was glad that it was happening after he'd returned to classes, now his Godfather could give him points for mastering the spell.

 That was indeed what the lesson was about, Ron and Hermione did well, if not as well as Harry, as he'd been giving them lessons with the Young Phoenixes.

 The three of them earned sixty points for Gryffindor, and most of the others won at least five. Blaise got ten points, and three other Slytherins managed to get five, though Sirius didn't look very happy about it.

 Sirius only gave Blaise ten points because he knew that she was his godsons' friend, and that Harry had taught her what she knew of the charm, so he didn't mind her as much.

 Malfoy had a lot of difficulty with the spell, because he kept pronouncing the words wrong, but Sirius pretended to only notice when the Slytherin boy was called to show what he'd learnt in front of the rest of the class.

 That day Harry spent most classes mucking around, bored because he'd known all of this stuff for what seemed like forever, since in truth he was sixteen years old now.

 He was patient, however, and didn't get much homework because he showed a solid understanding of what he was doing in classes. By the end of the day, Harry was ready to blast a hole in the wall he was that bored, but he knew that things would get better soon enough.

 That night, also, he had to oversee Remus taking the last of the Potion and finally being healed of the curse that had plagued him for so long.

 He would also go and speak to the Unicorns that night, to see what they had come up with, he could only hope that they'd found the other Dothae that his parents had brought back.

 When classes finished, he headed straight for the teachers wing to Sirius's room to find Remus, Sirius and the watchers had all assembled already.

 When Harry walked in, Remus smiled at him, the sad look in his eyes was gone, replaced by something else … not happiness, exactly, but something.

 He smiled at Remus, and felt a warm feeling in his chest when Remus smiled happily back, Sirius looked happy too, and the darkness that Azkaban had left on him was finally gone, Harry knew it – gone beyond return.

 He watched, holding his breath, as Remus took the last sip of the potion, and gold light surrounded him. Harry knew what this was – it restored the lost youth of a person who'd been bitten, and sure enough, when the cloud passed, Remus look much younger, his hair was fully golden-yellow now, the greyness in it was gone.

 The first sip has isolated the poison that spread from the werewolf's fangs, putting up a barricade and beginning working on it to change the symptoms. 

 The second sip fully changed it so that it became like the Animagus spell rather than a poison that rose and fell throughout the month to the moons pull.

 He smiled as Remus and Sirius hugged each other gratefully, there were tears of relief in the former werewolf's eyes.

 Still smiling, Harry slipped away, noticing that the others left also, so that the two old friends could enjoy this triumph together. He watched the others for a moment, until he was sure that no one was watching him, then he changed form, and the black panther that was his Animagus form slipped silently away into the night, a Wandless charm turning his wings to black so that he was hidden completely.

 The moment he got out the castle, he burst into a run, feeling a sense of delight as he charged across the moonlit grounds, feeling muscles bunch all over his body as he moved with the fluid grace of the big cats.

 Halfway across the grounds, his movements changed and he thrust his back paws down hard, sending himself in a smooth leap into the air, wings sweeping out and downward, propelling him upward.

 A quick call with his Elemental powers, and a breeze sprang up, sweeping under his huge wings and holding him aloft.

 The panthers green-gold eyes smiled in happiness and Harry played through the air, laughing his mind – he loved the freedom of the open skies.

 A short time later, Harry swooped down and landed neatly before the unicorns. *Who are you? What are you?* the unicorns asked him. With a silent, regretful sigh, Harry changed back to human form, this form was weak and slow compared to the panther, but he kept himself in peak physical condition, so he was better of than some he could name, and for the first time in an age, the thought of his cousin entered his mind.

 *You know me. I wanted to ask you if you had any luck with finding the Dothae?* Harry replied, not wasting time with re-introducing himself.

 He smiled faintly at the looks of surprise that flickered through the unicorns eyes. *Yes. We found the other, a young male. But what if he does not want to come with you?* The leader of the herd demanded, eyes cold and flashing. 

 *Whether or not he wishes to come with me, he will be remaining with this herd – quite frankly, I do not have the time to look after one of these creatures and I'm not sure that I would be best cut out for the job in any case,* Harry replied. *I certainly do not wish to enslave them – I am merely trying to do the world a favor by bringing back some of the creatures that it destroyed.*

 He could sense the surprise of the unicorns, they'd expected him to be a 'human' type of human being, to obsessed with fame and vanity to care about the feelings of a beast.

 *I will bring the other one to you tomorrow morning,* he added to the unicorns, *and you can look after them, on the shoulders of this pair rests the entire species of the Dothae, I hope you do well in raising them, and I will do my best to bring more back with me. The Dothae are just the starting the point, many others will be returning through the ages, with the aid of my family.*

 With that he changed form again and padded off, large paws silent as he padded across the forest and back to the common room where more Potions essays awaited him.

 Ron and Hermione wondered where he'd been, but he didn't really want to tell them about what his parents had done, nor about what he had been doing in Atlantis, so he just told them that he'd stayed behind with Remus and Sirius for a little while, and then gone for a little stretch in his Animagus form.

 It was always easiest to lie when you kept fairly close to the truth, and his two friends believed him, after all, what reason did he have to lie to them?

 The next morning, Harry was surprised to discover that he'd finished all of the Potions work – he'd been surprised at how easy most of it was, and growled in annoyance when he realised that all the Slytherins had gotten high marks when the Gryffindors got really low. Oh well. 

 That day, he spent the day with the Young Phoenixes, training them in fighting and magics that they might not know. A lot of them had some aptitude for the Wandless and Elemental Magics, and he was also very interested in looking for people who could become Animagi – without telling the Ministry so that they could move around without the Death Eaters knowing their movements.

 So far he had Cho, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ernie and Ginny marked down, and was looking at Fred and George, since in some cases the talent might run in the family.

 Today, though, they were working on things that might be useful, mainly different duelling techniques that would be useful. But today, something odd had happened – Blaise Zabani joined them.

 At first most people were more than a little wary of her, but those who were already taking lessons from Harry as a teacher knew that they could trust her, and told the others, so gradually everyone relaxed.

 In the middle of the day when it was beginning to get warmer, they settled down in chairs in the library to do their homework, careful to keep quiet and work hard, to keep away the wrath of Madam Pince.

 Harry wandered around between all of the tables, whenever anyone needed some help, they would simply wait until he reached them and ask for it.

 In the late afternoon they disbanded, Harry, Ron and the rest of the Quidditch team headed out to the pitch, Harry had to go through with the formalities of trying out for the team, even though everyone knew that he'd get the place.

 The trial began, Harry was the only player trying out for the team, so he and Denis would be looking for the Snitch to see who caught it and how long it took them, and the other players reactions and so on.

 Ten minutes later Harry dove – straight down. Hurtling downwards as fast as his broom would take him, Harry was only vaguely aware of Denis attempting to follow in a slightly more safe way – when Harry saw victory for his team, he threw safety to the winds and did whatever was necessary to win.

  A moment later he was pulling out of the dive, the snitch clutched in his hand, eyes dancing in triumph and a smile playing over his features.

 The team cheered, and Denis cheered with them, Harry was glad to see. The other Seeker flew down slowly to Harry's level. "You're back on the team, I'll be going as Reserve, just in case, but that was the way we always planned it – I was never as good as you were, and everyone knew it," Denis told him.

 Harry grinned and held out a hand to shake hands with the boy. "Thanks Denis, I hope you don't feel too bad about it," he said.

 "How could I? You're a legend! No one is as good as you are!" Denis laughed, and flew down to land on the ground. "I've been practicing for a while anyway, you stay up there and practice with the team, you'll need it, the game against Ravenclaw is coming up! Last in the season!"

 Harry raised a hand in a salute, and let the Snitch go, with his own magics he created bludgers and things that would try and knock him off his broom, making them harmless to everyone else, and threw himself into the joys of playing Quidditch.

 Darkness was falling when the team headed back up to the castle, Harry feeling comfortably exercised while everyone else was panting heavily.

 The practice he'd had in Atlantis was really paying off, and while for practices now he was using his Firebolt, he was waiting for the first game of the next year – against the Slytherins – before he'd bring out the broom he'd brought back from Atlantis, he'd probably give the old broom to Ron.

 "You know," he remarked to Angelina, "we really should be spending a lot more time training the new Beaters and Chasers, so that we are ready next year, since you lot will all be gone."

 "Yeah, that's a good idea," Angelina replied thoughtfully – she was the Captain this year, which was a good thing, she was level headed and not the fanatic that Wood had been.

 "I'll do anything I can to help, of course," Harry added, "but I'm not sure how well I'd do."

 "Thanks Harry, I'm sure we can enlist the help of the whole team and we'll see what we can do, you are certainly right, I want to give Gryffindor as good a chance as possible after I've gone," Angelina smiled, then ran to catch up with Fred, her boyfriend.

 Harry wandered across the grounds, he didn't feel like going up to the castle just yet, and he'd have to take Lia to the unicorns soon too. Maybe he should do that now …

 When he arrived at Hagrid's, the half giant was gone, Harry knew that he'd been asked to act as a representative of the Ministry of Magic to talk to the giants and present the case of the Magical World.

 Lia was out in the back yard, grazing happily. *Come on Lia, it's time to go and meet some friends,* Harry called to her, and the baby Dothae bounded across the ground to Harry's side, gazing up at him adoringly.

 *I'll leave you with them, but I'll come and visit often,* Harry promised. *They are unicorns, and will be able to take better care of you than I can.*

 Lia looked a little sad, but when Harry told her who he would be leaving her with, she immediately cheered up completely, she'd never seen unicorns, but she'd heard a lot about them.

 Harry didn't really want to meet with the unicorns again, so he left Lia just nearby with instructions on how to find them, before wandering off absently.

 He didn't really pay much attention to where he was going, and when he ended up in a clearing that enabled him to see the stars, he settled down and looked at the sky.

 When there was a crackle of twigs, Harry didn't so much as start. "It's been a while since I saw a centaur," he remarked aloud to his companion.

 He heard the sharp intake of breath, and judged that it be a male, middle aged and quite strong.

 "Your companions may come out, if they wish. I take it you are here to watch the skies," Harry added, smiling to himself as he heard another two centaurs move into the clearing.

 "You would be Bane, Rowan and Firenze, would you not?" He remarked.

 "Yes," one of them replied, by the mournful voice Harry decided that it was Rowan.

 "Ah yes, you may remember me, from several years ago. I am Harry Potter," once more there was surprised sounds from them, and finally, Harry turned around to look at them.

 "How have you been?" He asked them easily, smiling faintly.

 "The stars have much to say about you," Bane told him. "Many things, so many that it is impossible to decipher them all, but there is one thing that we may tell you – the stars predict you death, but they tell of events that come after. With one oddity – you are still in them. Remember that, I do not know why, but we must tell you this," then the huge black centaur turned and galloped into the night, Rowan followed at his heels.

 "Well Harry Potter, we meet again," Firenze remarked, smiling faintly.

 Harry smiled in return. "So we do, Firenze, so we do. I can't remember if ever thanked for you saving my life, back in first year, so I will say thank you again. I owe you my life, and if I can ever help you, rest assured, I will," he told the centaur.

 "It is a rare occasion that a human says that to a centaur, much of the time your kind is so vain and self cantered that they do not care for the beings that inhabit their planet," Firenze remarked.

 "But I am insulting your kind, so forgive me, please," he added after a moments thought.

 "Oh, you are forgiven. I am well aware of human stupidity and vanity, and unfortunately those who are supposed to lead us are the worst of them," Harry remarked. "But not all are like that, they are simply the ones that are more well known. My friends are different, very different."

 "I know this, the stars tell much, and some centaurs have the vanity to say that they can read it all, but no centaur can do that. In truth, we share the same qualities that we so dislike in humans," Firenze remarked.

 Harry nodded. "I know, and really, I think that every species does – we have to, to have some pride in ourselves," he remarked.

 "For a human, and your age, you are wise, Harry Potter, but I must go now, there is a meeting in a short time, and I have to summon the others," Firenze said, rising.

 Harry nodded and bid the centaur farewell, and watching as he galloped away. He smiled faintly to himself, there were no others, save perhaps Sirius, who had been to the Seekers Academy who would do what he had just done – admit that they had a life debt with _anyone let alone a centaur._

 Thinking of the Seekers Academy, he wasn't doing anything, why not go and visit the place? He'd always liked the mountain, deadly and dangerous, but beautiful none the less …

 Closing his eyes for a moment, he called on the Dark Elementals, weaving them into a gateway, a void of darkness like the one that Shadow Master had made for them back when they'd first met the man. 

 Striding through it without fear, Harry appeared deep in the heart of the mountain, where few people ever came. He knew his way out of here, he'd come down here often enough, and Shadow Master had given him a mind map of sorts that would allow him to find his way out of anywhere in the mountain.

 He released the Dark Elementals and called on his Wandless Magic, thinking of the time when such things would have had him in bed completely worn out, and that was not even a year ago in this time.

 Using a Wandless Charm to render himself invisible to anyone's eyes, Harry shifted form, the giant black panther padded silently through the corridors and passageways, all the time making his way for Shadow Masters rooms.

 This would be where the new ruler of the school was, Harry knew, and depending on who it was, he would stop to talk with them for a little while, exchange some news.

 Reaching the more used corridors of the mountain, Harry kept a careful eye out for anyone who might be around who could bump into him and ruin everything – no invisibility charm could make you unable to be touched.

 Reaching the door to the Shadow Masters quarters, Harry was relieved to find that someone had just made their way to Shadow Keep and had been accepted into the ranks of Seekers-In-Training.

 What he was quite surprised to see, was that it was Tiger who was with them. Was Tiger the new Shadow Master?

 'Who's Tiger?' James demanded in Harry's mind, they'd been quite quiet lately. Harry quickly explained to his father who Tiger was (or who he had been before).

 'Ah.' 

 Harry slipped closer and waited for one of the younger students to appear. His suspicions were confirmed when the student greeted Harry's first teacher and almost-friend at the Seekers Academy as "Shadow Master."

 Harry waited patiently while the Shadow Master sent the new student off with the other and returned to his office. 

 When he did, Harry was on his heels.

 "Ok, which of you is following me this time?" Shadow Master asked, evidently amused by the whole thing.

 Harry allowed his invisibility charm to fall away, and Shadow Master nearly fell out of his chair. "Panther?" He asked incredulously, eyes widened in surprise.

 "That's right, not one of your new recruits. So it was you who got to be Shadow Master, obviously," Harry replied, eyes glinting in amusement.

 "Yes. Perhaps you could help us solve a mystery for me, no one seems to know who killed the old Shadow Master, or how," Shadow Master remarked.

 "That would have happened," Harry remarked to no one in particular. "The answer to your question is simple, my old friend. No one killed Shadow Master. A four hundred year old person is allowed to die of old age."

 "_Four hundred years?_" Shadow Master exploded. "But … I trained him for a short time when he first arrived, he was young then, he couldn't have been four hundred years old!"

 "Ah, but he was. He was the same person who was Shadow Master at that time, he'd been changing things around, creating illusions to replace the old one, making new disguises to make sure that no one ever guessed. He told me a lot of that while he was training me," Harry explained.

 "Well … that's a bit much to deal with, Panther, but then, you always were good at bringing up the most unbelievable stories – especially when they happened to be true ones," Shadow Master said, smiling faintly. "But why did you leave? And more importantly, why have you returned?"

 "I left because I was only staying till the old Shadow Master could finish teaching me what I needed to know," Harry said with a shrug. "I came back to see what had happened in my absence. Me'n'Padfoot have other things to do Shadow Master would you believe it, he's become a teacher …" Harry laughed, as did r, knowing well Sirius's love of pranks and getting into trouble.

 "Where is he teaching?" Shadow Master asked after a moment, and while the question was innocent and polite, Harry knew perfectly well what it was that was hidden behind it – a skilled attempt at finding out who 'Padfoot' had been.

 Harry smiled. "Don't try it," he said, and while his smile was as friendly and calm as it had been just moments ago, his voice has a slight edge of danger to it.

 Shadow Master actually gulped, slightly scared by the look in Harry's eyes, and the tone of his voice. 'Panther' had changed much from the young, almost innocent boy who'd first come here almost a year before.

 "My apologies," he murmured softly after a moment. "But I am the leader of a school of law breakers, what more do you expect from me?" He asked.

 "Nothing really," Harry replied with a shrug. "I should be going now, Padfoot and my friends will be getting worried," with that the portal opened behind him once more and he disappeared from the office. 

 Tiger/Shadow Master looked thoughtful. 'I wonder …' he thought to himself, before the sounds of a fight outside distracted him.

 Back in Hogwarts Harry strode through the now silent halls, dinner had been over for sometime and he had to go to the kitchen to get something to eat.

 The next day would be lessons again, and more Potions, which he wasn't really looking forward to – although the look on Snape's face when he found out Harry had done all of the work assigned to him to would be interesting.

 Walking up to the Gryffindor Tower, having suffered through the almost hero-worshipping house elves, Harry paused to speak with a few of the paintings to see what had been happening that he hadn't already heard about.

 There wasn't much, just Malfoy being on detention for mucking up in one of his elective classes. Harry smiled at that, then continued on his way to Gryffindor Tower. 

 The next morning Potions was first thing, Harry had the huge stack of assignments, but he turned them invisible and set them up in the air above the heads of the crowd, using some air elementals to keep it moving above him, but this way he had his hands free, should he need to move fast.

 He ate only a light breakfast and headed to the dungeons with Ron and Hermione before anyone else, keeping a careful eye on his essays, floating high in the air.

 The three of them were seated in the front of the class when the rest of the people arrived, Snape on their heels. He scowled to see Harry, then sneered when he realised that their were no essays with him.

 "Well Potter, can't keep up with the work load?" The Professor asked with a sneer. He really hates me, Harry thought to himself, slightly shocked.

 'I don't see anything odd about that,' James remarked. 'He just hates Potters in general, but after your time here in disguise, he hates you as a person as well, not just because of your name and blood.'

 'You could be nicer, James,' Lily remarked waspishly. 'He might get over it dear,' she added to Harry. 

 While this internal conversation was going on, Snape was busy berating Harry for not doing his homework.

 "Um, Professor?" Harry tried to break in. He tried another five times and failed, then, with a faint sigh, waved a hand, the invisibility charm fell away from his homework and they dropped a few feet so that they were hanging just in front of Snape's face.

 "They are all there, and finished," Harry said calmly, the class staring at him in shock, with the exception of Ron and Hermione. 

 Snape gaped at the pile of essays, and then told Harry coldly to put them on the desk. Harry obeyed calmly and started on the Potion that Snape had set, again without waiting for instructions to appear on the board.

 He paid very little attention to Snape for the rest of the lesson, and Snape refused to speak to him – Harry guessed that the man was angry and embarrassed at being caught out by Harry. Oh well, it was his problem.

 'Yes. Now all you have to do is try to add to it,' James told him excitedly, but Lily stepped in and forbade it.

 Harry heaved an internal sigh. With these two in his mind all the time, he would be lucky not to be driven insane within days. 'Hey, we heard that!' for once both of his parents said the same thing, in complete agreement. Harry ignored it completely.

********************************************************

Lucky buggers. No cliffie this chapter. Oh well, I'll see what I can do next time!

Narcissa Malfoy, Harmoni, Maxx77, Dog Stars Crush, Green Eyed Knight, SlytherinAtHeart, pheonixrising, Rachel A. Prongs, solar, BloodRedSword, JerseyGirl03, Lord R, litine, Tasidia, Lady Prongs, etfrompo, fantasydima, Zaz, Lexi, giraffe, princess55, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Lucy, Mysterious666, JerseyGirl03, Mr. Happy Java Man, Clare, Jordan, Asarunakarm, athenakitty, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, ambookworm247 – 37 reviews! Yay! Another 26 and I'll have 400! Help me out guys? Just press the little go button at the bottom of the screen and write something nice!

~WolfMoon~


	14. Chapter Thirteen

A/N: I have noticed how many people have trouble writing Sorting Hat songs (myself among them) if there are any talented poets out there reading this story, or anyone who _knows_ a talented poet, I was thinking of collecting Sorting Hat songs and putting them up as a 'story' and giving other authors the right to use them in their stories. If you (or someone you know) is willing to send me Sorting Hat songs, send them wolfmoon44@hotmail.com, and I'll put them up! Thanks for reading this (and hopefully responding to it as well) now on with the chapter!!

Chapter Fourteen:

 The next two weeks passed in a comfortable blur. It took about this long for Harry to realise that he'd not had a dream of Voldemort since the first time.

 'We are blocking them,' Lily told him. 'It doesn't make anything easier for you having to put up with those dreams, we'll tell you if we see something that you need to know about.'

 'Thanks mum,' Harry replied. He was pretty much accustomed to having his parents in his mind all the time, and no longer felt as if their bickering would drive him insane.

 Well … not _most_ of the time anyway.

 The thing that _was causing him to get annoyed was that Ron and Hermione behaved in the same manner – always arguing. Harry didn't mind __too much, because if his parents were any guide it meant that they were falling for each other, but it did get on his nerves._

 At least the voices of the rest of his relatives didn't come and annoy him unless he called to them because he wants to talk or to get information.

 He and the team were practicing hard, and they'd found several new members for the next years team – including Ginny, Colin and a girl named Rose (all from the same year) as the Chasers and Dennis, who could double as a beater.

 This meant that they only had to find another two Beaters, as Angelina and Harry both agreed that it was harder to find a decent Seeker than it was to find a good Beater.

 With the upcoming match against the Ravenclaw team, the old and new players actually played almost proper games, although Fred and George worked on separate teams and they'd had to get one of the other seventh years to come and play Keeper.

 This proved to be a good method, the players switching around on the two teams so that old and new players played together. They shared it with their friends, not caring that the Ravenclaws could copy – they were all friends and it didn't really matter who won, to any of them.

 During practice one night Harry smiled viciously and dropped into a screaming dive, hurling for the ground as fast as possible, and even with a Firebolt, that was _fast._

 Dennis didn't even _try to catch up with him, though he headed downwards in a dive of his own pace anyway, to get the practice. Harry pulled out of the dive and waited, a foot above the ground, for the other boy to reach him._

 "Hey Dennis, why don't you try the Firebolt," Harry suggested, "that way you can practice diving with me, and manage to keep up – I think I can give you a fair run with a Nimbus 2000."

 This was what Dennis's family had gotten him, and it was fairly good. Harry, though, was more than a match for Firebolt, even with a Nimbus 2000 as his broom.

 "Really?" Dennis asked excitedly, eyes widen with surprise at the offer.

 "Really," Harry replied with a faint smile, dismounting and handing it to Dennis, before mounting the Nimbus 2000 and taking off. The broom was nothing to the Firebolt, but Harry didn't mind too much, he remembered using his own precious broom for two years before it was broken in a storm.

 Taking off, the pair of them flew, Dennis keeping close to Harry and listening to what Harry told him about Quidditch, the things that were good about different moves and such.

 They ended up by doing Wronski Feints, Harry teaching Dennis to be able to pull up with a seconds warning. Dennis had some talent in the area, not nearly as much as Harry, but some.

 The day of the match dawned bright and clear, Harry smiled at his friends on the team, nodded companionably to the Ravenclaws and sat down to eat a light breakfast at the Gryffindor table before heading out to the pitch to change.

 Harry waited patiently while Angelina gave the team a pep talk, even though they were only facing friends, they had to be at least a little vicious, because they couldn't just give in _because of friendship._

 Harry had no doubt that Cho, who was the captain of the other team, would be saying some of the same kind to her own team, but thoughts were cut off when they headed out onto the pitch. 

 Harry smiled faintly, the whole place was decked out in Ravenclaw blue and Gryffindor gold, the Slytherins were wearing neither colour but didn't want to miss out on the entertainment.

 The two teams smiled at each other while the captains shook hands and the teams mounted their brooms. Harry headed straight up when the whistle blew, and Cho followed.

 Harry searched for the Snitch, eyes flickering over the field quickly, his ears picking up Lee Jordan's commentary, following the game without really paying that much attention.

 He sighed, the Snitch was no where in sight, but he kept moving, always searching for the familiar glint of gold. Cho marked him, always close by, though she too searched for the Snitch.

 He kept an eye on her movements, knowing well that she was good at the game and could see the Snitch before he did, and if she did, he could keep up with her easily.

 The game had been going for almost an hour, the score was 140-100 to Gryffindor, thanks to Ron's skills as a Keeper and the Chasers ease at working together.

 Suddenly Harry saw the Snitch, it was high in the air, a wind had blown up, and it might be a little dangerous up there, but Harry didn't mind, he was, after all, an Elemental Mage.

 Certainly he didn't want to use his talents to help him win the game, if he could help it, and that would tell everyone who didn't know that he_ was_ and Elemental Mage, another thing he didn't really feel like doing.

 Cho saw where he was going, saw the Snitch and nodded to him, as if saying, if you can catch it, it's yours, I'm not going to try that.

 Harry smiled briefly, and hurtled up as fast as he could, eyes on the Snitch, every inch of his concentration focused on it, the moment he was close enough, his hand shot out, catching the small winged ball firmly in his hand, turning the broom for the ground in the same movement.

 The cheers of the crowd (minus, of course, the Slytherins) mingled with the screaming of the wind in his ears, the two teams headed down with him.

 Before the excited Gryffindors could come bounding onto the pitch and congratulate the second year that Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, though not in a row, since, of course, there hadn't _been any Quidditch the year before, Cho held out a hand to Harry._

 "Well played Harry, but that was a big risk you took, going up there," she remarked. "I'm just glad it wasn't me. You're good – maybe you'll go enter the league sometime …" 

 Harry smiled at her. "Thanks Cho," she let go of his hand and went to join her own team as the Ravenclaws came to congratulate them on a game well played, even if they hadn't won.

 Angelina and Harry came over to Professor Dumbledore, and lifted the Quidditch Cup into the air. Harry noticed that the Slytherins had slunk of the field looking cheated.

 He felt like he was bursting with happiness – this was just as great as the last time he'd won the cup, and he didn't think he'd felt this happy since being in the Seekers Academy – it seemed to squash happiness out of a person, that place, make every happy moment a possible threat, so you were looking for the threat rather than enjoying yourself.

 'Well done kid. I'm sorry you couldn't be a Chaser like me, but anyone could see that a Seeker is the position for you. Great game!' His father laughed.

 'I was a Seeker on the Gryffindor team, you get it from me, I suppose,' his mother added. 'They might have said you looked like James, but you had my talents and such.'

 That set the pair of them off on an argument over what Harry had inherited from whom, and he shut them out with a sigh.

 Two weeks later the O.W.L.'s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) began, Harry wasn't in the least nervous, as his parents, while they wouldn't help, since Lily would let James and wouldn't herself either, and Harry probably won't let them anyway, had told him that with the amount of knowledge he had, he could probably pass the N.E.W.T's (Nasty Exhausting Wizard Tests) easily enough.

 Hermione was reading just about every book in the Library, studying constantly and Ron was with her pretty much every time. She tried to get Harry to study, but he told her that he'd learned all of their textbooks off by heart, pretty much, at the Seekers Academy. "I'll be fine, Hermione. You and Ron study, I'll help and that way I can make sure I've got everything that I might need."

 From that statement on, whenever one of them needed a passage from a book, they just asked Harry, it continually delighted Ron to have him spout of the textbooks word for word. It became a game – try and find a passage Harry couldn't remember.

 They hadn't succeeded yet.

 Along with this, the Young Phoenixes were training hard a lot of the time, and progressing well. Harry knew that some of them would want to go to the Seekers Academy, and he was considering talking to Tiger – Shadow Master – about getting some of them into the Academy, to teach them how to fight and such, before setting up an exclusive school for teaching the fighting arts to those who would join the Phoenixes later, a standing army waiting for the rise of the next Dark Lord, to hopefully stop him – or her – before they could get far.

 He wasn't sure if it would work, however, so he told them that they should just join the Order of the Phoenix if they wanted to, until he'd gotten around to organizing anything else.

 Now Harry was in the Transfiguration exam, the writing part. Discuss the difficulties of taking on an Animagus form. Harry smiled to himself – he hadn't mentioned that he was an animagus himself.

 The essay was easy and he finished it in record time. Then it was off to Charms, the practicals would take place the next week, once all of the written exams had been done.

 Harry moved through the various exams easily enough, he'd learnt all of this a long time ago, for him at least. He'd had an extra year on all of his classmates anyway. 

 Once he and Ron had finished their exams (for Ron, excluding Divination, since they only had the one exam, the practical one.)

 He and Ron wandered around the castle, slightly bored, waiting for Hermione to finish her last exams. Ron was fairly certain he'd failed everything, because, as he'd admitted with a shaky grin, he forgot everything he'd tried so hard to memorize the moment he was faced with the test.

 Harry, however, thought that Ron would have done fairly well, even if his friend was fairly certain this was not the case. Harry said nothing about it, knowing that they would find out soon enough what was happening.

 Hermione was fretting that she hadn't got all of the information she'd be needing for the last exams she had. Harry and Ron could not console her, so they gave up and started playing the 'book game' as they called it. 

 The next week the practical exams were held. Harry and the Young Phoenixes were fairly certain they'd pretty well in all of their subjects, since the ones in fifth year could ask the advice of those in the years above them, or Harry's.

 Those tests too passed without much thought, in Harry's case at least. Everyone else was worried and nervous, but Harry knew perfectly well that he'd be fine.

 Ron and Hermione both spent hours revising what Harry was sure were every one of the spells that they'd learnt that year … and the Potions, for which even Hermione asked Harry's help, as he was the only Gryffindor who was mildly good at Potions, having escaped Snape's teaching methods for some of the time.

 The next week passed easily for Harry, fretfully for the rest of his year, all, Harry later reflected, were hell to live with while they were waiting for the results to come out.

 They'd be announced at a special meeting of all of the fifth year students, a feast of sorts for them alone. This apparently happened every year, and from what Ron's older brothers had said, it also happened when the seventh years passed their N.E.W.T's.

 Harry left the Gryffindor common room in disgust one night, because everyone was complaining or fretting about how they had done. He made his way down to the Staff Wing to Sirius's room.

 Walking inside calmly, Harry smiled to see Remus and Sirius engaged in a chess game – they seemed pretty evenly matched and both were concentrating so hard that neither of them even noticed the presence of another in the room until Harry sat down beside the table that the board was set on, and smiled when they both started violently.

 "Harry! We didn't hear you come in!" Yelped Sirius, nearly oversetting the game.

 "That's because you were concentrating too hard, Sirius. I knocked, three times and opened the door fairly loudly," Harry replied coolly, grinning.

 Sirius smiled faintly but maintained a somewhat embarrassed silence. Harry grinned at him and turned to Remus. "I haven't had much time to talk to you, and you haven't been around much since I brought the cure back for you," he told the former werewolf. "I was beginning to wonder how you'd gotten on."

 Remus smiled. "I've been going very well," he replied, smiling. "I've got a job in the Ministry as a minor Auror for the moment, I'm not sure if I'll like that, but at least I have a chance now."

 Harry nodded. "I'm glad that I was able to provide it for you," he told his friend. Sirius butted in on the conversation now.

 "Why did you come? I was just beating the crap out of Moony here!" he protested, scowling at Harry.

 "Don't listen to him – it was _obvious that I was beating him," Remus interrupted. Harry leaned back and smiled as he watched his two older friends argue good-naturedly over who was winning. _

 Finally, they remembered he was there.

 "Sorry Harry," Remus said, blushing slightly and ducking his head. Harry merely grinned in response. "I'll leave you two for a while, we can come back later and I'll thrash you then," he added to Sirius, before heading out of the room.

 "Well, what brings you here, Harry? Haven't seen much of you with the O.W.L.'s on," Sirius asked, grinning.

 "Just that," Harry said, slouching slightly and leaning back in his chair. "_Everyone_ is going _crazy_ worrying about the score they got in the test. It's driving me crazy!"

 Sirius laughed softly in reply. "I remember that from when I was at school. I wasn't the most studiously inclined of students, but I was good. I couldn't see what people were so worried about – there isn't anything they can do anyway!"

 Harry nodded in fervent agreement. "I thought I was just an oddity, because I learnt all of this stuff ages ago, for me at least. I do have the advantage of a year in Atlantis, of course."

 Sirius smiled. "So you did, and with you other talents, you harnessed magical abilities early for your power, and you had the opportunity to take advantage of the library at Shadows Keep in the Academy when we were there – for you learning magic wasn't merely something you had to do, it wasn't a chore like is for a lot of people, even when it is a fun one that they can play with. For you, it was a means of survival – without knowing the spells, you could never harness your wandless magic, and if you didn't get that properly, it could have easily rebounded and killed you," he told his godson.

 Harry sighed in agreement. "I always have to be an oddity," he remarked moodily, staring into the fire that blazed in the hearth. 

 Sirius said nothing – it wasn't easy being famous, because fame cut both ways, and being known everywhere you went would get annoying after awhile. A _short_ while.

 He knew the feeling – the Wizarding World knew him too now. He was famous like Harry was, but he was known for escaping Azkaban, and being arrested in the first place as well. Everyone was wary around him, even though he'd been pardoned. 

 He was frankly sick and tired of it. People stopping him in the street. "Aren't you that Sirius Black character who escaped Azkaban?" and acting incredulous and scared when he admitted that, yes, that was who he was.

 Harry shook his head, trying to get the dark thoughts out of his mind. He blinked, his eyes, used to the light of the fire now, had spots dancing over them as he looked away, towards his godfather, making it almost impossible to see the kind, sympathetic and understanding expression on Sirius's face.

 "Come on kid, we haven't done a session in _ages," Sirius said suddenly, breaking the silence as he bounded to his feet. "You can teach me some of the neat moves you learnt in Atlantis!"_

 Harry laughed shortly and stood up too. "Yes, lets. It's just the thing to take my mind off things!" He said, smiling slightly.

 For the next week, Harry spent much more time with the adults that were his friends in the school, finding the company of most students to be stifling and boring.

 He and Hagrid had a long chat, something that they hadn't had the chance to do for some time. Hagrid was off at odd hours contacting the giants in an attempt to keep the peace between his two peoples, and he was succeeding.

 The week passed quickly enough, and Harry looked forward to getting the results and leaving the school for the summer. He and Sirius weren't sure where they'd end up going, but they would go and drop by the Dursley's to assure the family that Harry would not be coming back, ever again.

 On the night when the tests came out, tension among the fifth year students had reached an almost breaking point. Harry kept away completely all day, not being able to stand it.

 He and the Sixth and years from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw played a few games of quidditch. Eventually the other Fifth years who played came out to try and get rid of their nerves for the upcoming results.

 Finally the time came, nervous students filtered into the Hall. Harry was already there, talking with Sirius quietly up at the front table, as a Prefect. 

 The rest of the Prefects made their way to the front and waited for everyone else to arrive and seat themselves.

 Finally, everyone was there, and the result giving could begin.

 Dumbledore stood up, and the soft conversations that had been whispering around the room stopped immediately.

 "I will begin by congratulating you all on your efforts in the test. Very few of you produced anything less than satisfactory results," the Headmaster said, his calm voice echoing slightly in the hall. Harry smiled, noting the 'very few' as opposed to 'none'. Crabbe and Goyle, he knew, wouldn't have done too well, but he wasn't sure if there was anyone else.

 "Now, you will each be called up here in alphabetical order and receive your results. If you got in one of the top five in the year, it will be announced while you're up here," the headmaster continued.

 Harry groaned silently – he would have undoubtedly gotten a high result, if not _the_ highest, and the story would be all over the school in mere hours. Oh well.

 The name's began, Harry didn't both to pay much attention, watching absently as Hannah walked up to receive her results. She wasn't one of the top five students.

 Hermione Granger had come second, and Harry groaned mentally again – that meant he _had_ come first. The only person in the year who knew nearly as much as he did, and could remember it, was Hermione.

 By that, everyone _else knew that it was Harry who'd come first, they knew how smart he was._

 Harry waited patiently. Ernie Macmillan had come fourth highest, Padma Patil had come third, and then, "Prefect Harry Potter!" was called. Harry rose slowly and made his way towards Dumbledore, not liking the publicity at all.

 "Mr. Potter came the highest of this years test. In fact, he has done what no one else has done before him, and gotten a _perfect score in the test! So, in addition to having his name placed on the plaque which all of the top five will be placed on, Mr. Potter receives a trophy to stand in our trophy room here at Hogwarts School."_

 Harry mentally kicked himself for not purposely getting several of the questions wrong and avoiding this. He _hated the way that the other students looked at him, most with awe, but some, the Slytherins, with hatred._

 He accepted his results and walked at the same sedate pace back to his seat, wishing that he could just use his abilities to render himself invisible.

 Ron got a very high mark, though Harry only knew from the minimal hand signals that he'd taught his friends. He didn't know what it was, because they had to wait for the rest of the people to finish getting results before they could find out exactly.

 The last person – Blaise Zabani – was the one who'd gotten in fifth place. Harry smiled, someone from each house had gotten one of the higher results, although Gryffindor had had two of them.

 Finally it was over and the students were left to mingle with one and another. Harry and Ron immediately set out to find Zabani. They were carefully shielded by a wall of the Young Phoenixes so that she wouldn't get into trouble with her housemates at being talked to by a _Gryffindor._

 After comparing results, Ron smiled. "I only got one less than you, so I probably got sixth highest," he said, relieved. At least this time he hadn't been left _too_ far behind by his studious friends.

 Zabani made her escape and Harry and Ron went to find Hermione to tell her. She was very happy for Ron, since she knew as well as Harry did that Ron had tried really hard, he just didn't have the natural ease with learning that Hermione did – nor the inclination to study as much as she had in previous years – and he didn't have the 'advantages' that Harry's destiny had given him over the rest of the students.

 "Congrats kid," Sirius told him, turning up at Harry's shoulder. Harry grinned up at his Godfather. "Your mother would be proud – she got top of the year in our O.W.L.'s."

 Harry smiled with polite interest, although he'd gotten nothing but that from his parents while they were waiting for Harry to get the test results back.

 James, apparently, had come in second and was annoyed by it, because he'd really wanted to be first – Lily had been like Hermione, and had had much more experience with books and tests than James had.

 The party lasted long into the night, though Harry and his two best friends left early, as they wanted to plan their summer – they hadn't had the time yet, as first they'd been studying like mad for the test, then Ron and Hermione at least had been worrying over what they'd gotten, and now was the last day of the term – they'd be leaving on the train tomorrow morning. 

 "So, what is going to happen this summer?" Ron asked. "You aren't going to the Dursley's, are you Harry?"

 "No," Harry said with a grin. "A certain Captain Stifle, who lead the group assigned to arrest me, judged them unfit guardians and the Ministry has agreed to let me live with my godfather as my parents originally wished, as it _is_ in their will." 

 "Wicked!" Ron said, grinning. "So what are you going to be doing with Sirius?"

 "Well, we haven't quite decided yet, but we're going to go to the Dursley's and rub it in their faces, then we have to go house hunting," Harry made a face. "Oh well, Sirius has _loads of money, he inherited all of his families money, because most of them died in Voldemort's last reign, so we can get a nice place."_

 His two friends nodded. "Then maybe we should come to your place," Hermione suggested. "I'd ask you to come to mine, but there wouldn't be enough room, it's quite a small place."

 "That'd be fun!" Ron added in agreement.

 "I'll talk to Sirius when we find a place," Harry promised. "He'll say yes, of course, but we'll have to discuss when and all that."

 His two friends nodded and the conversation veered away into 'what we could do over the summer'.

 Since he'd already packed, Harry finished reading a book that he'd gotten out of the restricted section, it was hard to find a copy of it, and he doubted that the bookshop's he could get too would have it, so he was taking advantage of it here.

 The next morning Harry woke early as he usually did. The only different thing about this particular morning was that everyone else was up at the same time, to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything.

 Harry knew he hadn't, or at least, that if he had, it would be easy enough to come back and get it, since the Hogwarts Professors often came back to talk with the Headmaster or check stocks on things through the Summer Holidays.

 Harry left his dormitory and it's slightly panicked occupants and walked down to the Library, noting the quietness of the castle, since the other students were all in the same state as his friends were.

 Returning the book to Madam Pince with a smile, Harry wandered slowly back up to Gryffindor Tower, thinking about everything that had happened over the past year in this time, the two years he'd actually lived.

 It seemed hard to believe that only a year ago Voldemort had come back, that Cedric had died, that the seeds for his arrest had been sewn. Harry shook off the melancholy mood and entered the tower to be greeted by utter havoc.

 The students were running around, searching for things, yelling at the tops of their voices, asking if anyone had seen so-and-so's book/sock/cloak/hairbrush ect.

 Harry used a quick silent spell and called out 'Stop!", his voice cutting sharply over the noise and bringing it to a halt. All activities ceased.

 He removed the spell. "Now, you aren't going to find _anything_ like this. Those of you above forth year, come over here please," the students obeyed, not sure where this was going.

 "Now, all of you know the summoning charm, don't you?" he asked them impatiently. Grinning in slight embarrassment, they nodded. "Good. Use it. Now, when you have finished finding your own things, go and help the younger students who _don't_ know the spell, ok?"

 More nods and then everyone went on their way, talking quietly. Hermione made her way over to Harry. "Thanks Harry, I wasn't sure what I could say to keep them quiet and still get the things that they needed," she said.

 Harry nodded his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling faintly as he headed back up to his own dormitory and set his trunk to floating behind him, since he wouldn't be catching the train.

 He left the Gryffindor common room once more and walked downstairs to find Sirius. The news that Sirius Black, the escapee from prison, had been framed when sent there, and this had only been found false when he had been 'caught' had appeared on Muggle news when it happened, so he and his godfather could move through the Muggle world easily.

 Harry's arrest had not made the news at all, since the wizards were fairly sure that he would be easy to find, and afterwards it was realised that he had been accused unjustly as well.

 When he entered Sirius's quarters, Harry found a very different atmosphere to the one in the common rooms. Clothes were spread over the ground, Sirius was sprawled in a chair looking at them.

 "Harry, what clothes do I need?" he asked, a tone of hopelessness in his voice. Harry laughed and waved a hand, simultaneously cleaning the clothes and packing them in his godfathers' trunk neatly shrunken, then repeated the process with the rest of the clothes.

 Sirius laughed, with an exaggerated change of mood. "Well, that solved the problem!" he remarked. Harry laughed and nodded in agreement.

 "I have to meet the Young Phoenixes in the Library in a moment, to say goodbye and have a quick talk to the ones who are leaving, so that we can keep in touch, I'm thinking of creating a split off from the Seekers Academy to teach the fighting and duelling techniques that they have there," Harry said.

 "That would be interesting, but you'd need the Shadow Masters permission. Do you think that Tiger would give it?" Harry had, of course, told his Godfather who'd taken the place of the old Shadow Master.

 "I'm not sure – he'd be careful not to teach them everything, but if it was _only_ the fighting, he might consider it," Harry explained. "He wouldn't teach the rest of the criminal stuff, since that'd be against the law, for one, and could be used against the Academy."

 "Yeah, probably," Sirius agreed. "Meet me here after the Hogwarts Express leaves, we'll go then."

 Harry nodded and left for the Library to wait for his friends to arrive. It took them awhile, but that was only to be expected, since it was the last day of school. 

 Finally, everyone was there, the Gryffindors came first, since Harry's suggestion had made everything go a lot faster, they were followed by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, who came in small groups or alone, Blaise turned up last of all, panting and out of breath, explaining that she'd had to escape her house mates, and it had been somewhat difficult.

 Goodbyes passed quickly in most cases, although farewelling the seventh years was sad, since in these troubled times who knew what would befall them out in the world.

 Finally everyone but Harry and the seventh years were gone, he turned to them. "I'll keep in touch with you as best I can, if you can manage to send me an owl once a week so that I know you're alive at least, it would good, and I'll do the same. I'm going to try and get my tutors to start teaching a few select people in the fighting arts that I was trained in, because we need them to give permission to us if we want to live," he explained.

 "Well, if you do get permission, I'll certainly come!" Cho said, echoed by the Weasley twins and the other students followed after them almost immediately. 

 "I'll look forward to hearing from you all then, take care," Harry said, smiling sadly at them. They repeated this before hurtling off, since the train would be coming soon, and they had to get to the Hall first.

 Harry watched from the Gryffindor Tower as the train pulled into the station, and the tiny, toy-sized people pushed and shoved their way aboard. He smiled. "A lot has happened since this time last year," he remarked to no one in particular.

 _And much more will happen before this time next year._

 Harry didn't know where that voice came from, it wasn't one of his parents, or the ancestors he knew, but it had an air of prophesy around it.

 He smiled to himself and bounded down the stairs to join his Godfather in the staff wing.

*********************************************************

Well, that's the end of Fifth year, and I'm _obviously_ going to continue this in sixth year. It'll be in the same story, it's too much effort to start another one, and sixth year will probably be reasonably short – don't hold me to that though!

Thanks To:

Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Jordan, Rachel A. Prongs, JerseyGirl03, solar, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Clare, GunSmoke, Devonny Rose, Lord R, Lady Prongs, Zaz, Maxx77, fantasydima, SlytherinAtHeart, princess55, Dog Stars Crush, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Jess S, alana, Narcissa Malfoy, Skysong, ambookworm247, Gwendellen Snape, TNYTHMS, Queen of Redwall, Queen of Redwall, etfrompo, scott, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Mysterious666, and Tasidia – 35 reviews that time! Good oh! And I got over 400 reviews *grins* thanks guys! Please review this chapter and give me some input, the next chapter should be out on Friday (that is, Australia's Friday, Thursday for some).

~WolfMoon~


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen:

 It was mid afternoon, Privet Drive was as dull and 'normal' as Harry remembered, and on seeing, Sirius had a face. "I can see why you wouldn't want to live here," he said, shuddering.

 Harry smiled faintly. "And the people are worse, you saw them last year," he remarked.

 Sirius nodded in agreement. Harry walked up and knocked on the door. It opened with Vernon Dursley looking out in a cheerful mood. This disappeared the moment he saw Harry.

 "You!" He snarled furiously. "What are you doing here?"

 Sirius stepped up from the side of the door, out of Vernon's line of sight. Vernon gulped visibly at the sight of the ex-convict. "We have come to inform you that you have been judged unfit guardians and that I, as Harry's godfather, will be taking care of him from now on. You will not see him again," Sirius said, eyes narrowed.

 "I won't be coming back here again, we thought that it was best to come and tell you in person," Harry added, voice and eyes cold.

 Suddenly his parents let out a burst of warnings and Harry spun around as a Death Eater stood and screamed a curse, Sirius blocked it, and before the Death Eater could do anything, a dagger had appeared in Harry's hand and flashed out, the dagger now stood out in the Death Eaters chest as the man fell back, not even having a chance to scream.

 Vernon gaped. Harry glanced at him, and his uncle looked away quickly. "The Ministry will be here soon to clear that up," Harry remarked to his godfather. "No point in standing around waiting for them."

 Sirius nodded and they both disappeared before Vernon could say another word. Reappearing in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry smiled. With luck he would never see Privet Drive again.

 "Masters, how can I help you?" Tom asked, glancing up from the bar.

 "We'd like two rooms for a time, we aren't sure how long," Harry took over since he knew the bar man better than Sirius.

 "Well I'll be, it's Mr. Potter back again is it?" he said peering at Harry, then turned to Sirius. "And that would make you Mr. Black?"

 "So it would," Sirius replied, wary.

 Tom merely nodded. "I'll show you to our best rooms," he said, leading the way upstairs. "You can pay by the day."

 When he left them in adjacent rooms, Sirius turned to Harry with a grin. "He's really nice! I wish I'd bothered to get to know him when I was at school. Not that I cared for things like that at that stage in my life."

 Harry smiled in return. "Yes, Tom's a good man, and always nice to me, though I don't know about everyone else – he's rumoured not to be nice to people who have anything to do with the Dark Side," he told his godfather, remembering half heard conversations from his time in the wizarding world before he'd left for the Seekers Academy. 

 "So what are we going to do with searching for a house?" He asked his godfather, after they'd let the silence draw out companionably.

 "I'm not sure. We'll certainly want a magical house, and I might have one somewhere – I'll have to check out Gringotts, because I inherited a lot from my relatives, I've no idea exactly what though," Sirius said thoughtfully.

 Harry smiled at his godfather and they retired to their rooms to sleep for the night, they would be very busy on the morrow.

 "Right kid, I'm afraid the first thing we'll have to do is get some other clothes, we intimidate people in these," Sirius remarked.

 Harry looked annoyed, but nodded his head none the less. "I know what you mean, Sirius – it also says clearly that we are Harry Potter and Sirius Black – that'd make a target out of us for any Death Eater nearby."

 Therefore they went to Madam Malkin's first off. "What can I do for you dears?" she asked them, smiling gently.

 "Some nondescript but well made robes would be welcome," Sirius said. "I'm afraid our own make us something of a target." He told the truth, knowing that Harry felt it when people didn't speak the truth, sometimes it could even hurt, depending on the amount of lies that were being told around them.

 While Madam Malkin had her back turned, Sirius flickered the signals 'can we trust her?' to Harry.

 The boy thought for a moment, making sure that his ability was clearly focused on Madam Malkin, before nodding his head once, just before she turned around again.

 "Well dears, come with me into the back and we'll see what we can do for you," she said with a small smile. Harry and Sirius followed her to the back of the shop to be fitted properly.

 Half an hour later they left wearing far more nondescript clothing, before heading out to look for a house that suited them – or rather, to check Gringotts to see if there was anything in Sirius's vault, which contained a key to the family vault.

 In the family vault, there were so many papers and such that it would be impossible to do anything with them today, and so they went back up to the front desk and talked a goblin.

 It told them that if they waited for a while, the goblins would look over the various wills and deeds and whatever else there was down there and send it to them in some semblance of order.

 Thanking them, Sirius and Harry left to find a house to stay in till then. "If you want to confuse you enemies," they'd been taught, "have a lot of places to hide and never tell anyone all of them."

 So that was exactly what was going to happen – Harry and Sirius had decided to look for a home in the Muggle world, several, perhaps, and even in several different countries, if events allowed them.

 At some point, then, they would have to see a Muggle magistrate to see what was for sale. That would come another day though, since they would have to find Muggle clothing and get Muggle money.

 For today, they wandered around Diagon Alley, peering at the various shops and merchandise. Harry was thinking of getting some books from Flourish and Blott's, but he realised that he didn't want to be as far ahead of his year as he had been this year – it made for very boring study.

 He did, however, have an interesting time in the Magical Menagerie, where they had a phoenix for sale – they hadn't had one in for an age, the shop holder said, and had only got it twenty minutes before Harry entered the shop.

 Harry smiled and nodded before walking over to the phoenixes cage and staring into its fiery eyes. He smiled, gently, and called to the fire elementals, creating an extra blaze around the bird where no one else would see it.

 The bird looked at him, it's burning eyes interested and dancing with the flame of life. "How much is it?" Harry asked the shop owner thoughtfully.

 "For the phoenix? Thirty galleons boy," the witch said coolly. Harry thought for a moment – phoenixes were very rare creatures, and he quickly recalled a book that he'd read at one point in the Seekers Academy – it mentioned that a phoenix, if it was one the market, would be worth at least forty five galleons – to the right customer.

 Although it was more money than he'd payed for anything, Harry knew the price to incredibly reasonable, and paid it with hardly a thought.

 The witch looked surprised that he'd had that much just in his pockets – Harry thought that she might have only been trying to put him off, wait for a customer with money to come in and ask a better price.

 He shrugged the thought away, however, she shouldn't have told him the price to be something when it was something else, at the risk of loosing a profit. 

 A Seeker should not have a conscience, Harry thought as he added a galleon to the price and left before she could realise it. He shouldn't have one, but it seemed he was stuck with it, whether he wanted it or not.

 With the small phoenix in the cage held smoothly in his hand, using Wandless Magic to hide the cage from the view of passers by.

 Thinking for a moment, Harry Aparated away, heading for Hogwarts – he wanted to talk to the Headmaster, since he was hardly an expert on the subject of phoenixes, and Albus Dumbledore owned one.

 When he turned up, pleasantly refreshed by his jog across the grounds – having been careful not to jostle the small bird too much, Snape was at the door.

 "Potter," the Potions professor hissed, voice harsh and filled with hate. "What are you doing here – it _is the summer holidays, after all."_

 Realising that Snape was bound to think the worst, no matter what he said, Harry merely strode passed him. "A matter I will discuss with the headmaster alone," he informed his teacher.

 He didn't give Snape a chance to reply, vanishing around a corner before the startled man could do anything about it. Harry wove through the passageways of Hogwarts with a smooth grace – he knew _exactly where he was going, and the shortest way to get there as well. _

 "Harry!" Dumbledore exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear, though it had been only a day since they'd said farewell – Harry rolled his eyes.

 "What was it you wanted, Harry?" Dumbledore said, grinning, knowing that his student was once more having doubts as to his sanity. 

 "I bought a phoenix today, thirty galleons, and I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing with it," Harry informed the Headmaster bluntly.

 Dumbledore looked at Harry's hand, which was curled gently around what appeared to be nothing at all. Harry followed the gaze and grinned when he realised that the cage was still invisible. He quickly removed the spell and offered the cage for Dumbledore's inspection.

 "Well, it's definitely young – you won't know what sex it is for a few years more. And it'll be a few months before it's ready to tell you its name."

 Harry looked at the Headmaster questioningly. "Of course, you won't know much about phoenixes – not all that much is known about them, after all, and magical creatures would have hardly been a subject of your study at the Academy. A phoenix chooses its own name when it is old enough to decide for itself. Until then, just call it phoenix or some such," Dumbledore continued with a smile.

 Harry nodded his head. "Now, when it tells you it's name, come back to me and we'll talk more then. Phoenixes will eat just about anything – just feed it off your plate until the time that you know what it likes and dislikes in the food area."

 Harry nodded his head, and lifted the cage carefully, walking back outside, using a spell to make himself invisible as well. 

 As he'd thought, Snape was lurking around nearby, probably looking for him. Harry simply walked straight passed him and continued on his way out of the castle.

 Two weeks later Harry and Sirius stood on the grounds leading up to an enormous castle which Sirius had apparently inherited from one of the larger branches of his family. 

 "There were a lot of people here, then," he remarked to Harry, staring up at the castle. "We can stay here for a while, but I don't think that this is the right house for us."

 "No, it's too big. We are two people with few friends who would want to be visiting – we have no need for all of this space. Though it would be for the best, I think, if we made it seem like we lived here – have this as the address for most things. We are not expected to be here all the time, so we could easily live somewhere else and keep up pretence of living here," Harry said thoughtfully, looking over the castle. 

 "Now there is a good idea. There is a library here, so that will help you with the homework you have over the summer, if you need it, which, somehow, I think you won't, for most part. There is also a Quidditch pitch and stables and such, so we can spend quite a lot of time around here, just mucking around," Sirius agreed, grinning.

 "Let's have a look inside, shall we?" Harry asked, green eyes dancing, the gold sheen making them shine in the sunlight.  

 They had been astounded by the amount of things that Sirius had in his possession from his many deceased relatives – this, however, was the only house in England, and for the moment they didn't feel like going out of the country.

 They could always sell some of it, at some point in time, if they ever needed the money, which was doubtful – Sirius and Harry could live on their inheritance for five hundred years and still not be running anywhere close to dry.

 That had been another thing that they'd found out in the first two weeks – Harry's own inheritance. The safe that he'd had the key for originally had money that had been put aside for him when he grew up by his parents. Their own money, and that of the rest of Harry's family, was stored in other places.

 Once they'd found the keys for the various vaults, placed in different peoples vaults, or left with an old friend (Dumbledore had been entrusted to Harry's key, and Remus had James's hidden away in his house), they'd found that Harry was at least as rich as Sirius was.

 Together, since Sirius was Harry's legal guardian, they were the richest family in Britain, which was going to provide a _lot_ of fun next year – the Malfoy's were only the fourth.

 Harry and Sirius were pretty much on a tie when it came to the richest person, Harry coming in just ahead of his godfather on the fourth richest person in Britain, and Sirius on the fifth.

 All in all they could have as many houses as they wanted to have, and selling any of the many properties was unnecessary for getting money.

 Looking around Black Manor, as it was named, Harry found a wealth of books, ancient sculptures, antique furniture and porcelain … it was any historians paradise.

 Hermione would love it here, Harry thought to himself, staring around the library. 

 Hermione was staying with the Weasley's for the moment, rather than have to go to an orphanage or something. Since Arthur was one of the two people who were running the British Ministry of Magic, no one could complain.

 There was to be no voting until the threat of Death Eaters was completely gone, since the Ministry and the public did not want Voldemort attempting to get someone on the seat of power that he could control, but Arthur Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher were doing a fantastic job in any case.

*Sirius's POV*

 The house seemed empty now. He could remember all of the times when he had run through the corridors with James, nearly running people over – the workers, his parents, his cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. 

 In his mind he could remember them howling at him to slow down, to walk, not run, to be polite and not slam doors.

 But now, with only him and Harry here, it was empty. Devoid of it's old life. The house elves were still around, keeping the place in working order, but no one else was there, and the house elves would never presume to yell at the master of the house. 

 That had been one of the first things he checked on – the house elves. He wished that he could give them all some reward for the years of service they'd put into the house, but he knew that they would not like it much.

 Oh well … he could think of something, couldn't he? He was the master pranker of Hogwarts, the person who'd gotten the most detentions ever in Hogwarts history – he still had a trophy that Professor Dumbledore had given him when he was just leaving the school for the last time.

 He remembered it well, that trophy, where had he left it? In his old room probably. Forgetting his previous train of thought, Sirius bounded up the stairways and hurtled through the corridors like he used to, wishing there was still someone to yell at him to slow down.

 A few minutes later he skidded to a halt outside of a door with a sign on it. He remembered the time that he and James had put that sign there. 

 "Sirius's Room. Intruders Will Be Prosecuted." They had been ten years old and had always wondered at the meaning of those signs whenever they saw them, so they'd made their own. James had had one, at Godric's Hollow, before.

 Entering his old room, Sirius nearly cried. Everything was the way he'd left it, cluttered, clothes all over the floor – he could remember his mother sending him a howler about that. He'd moved to the Aurors training houses, and then he'd gone to stay at Godric's Hollow, and then he'd gone to Azkaban, so they'd been that way since he'd left for his seventh year at Hogwarts.

 He shook his head with a smile for his younger self, who'd laughed the howler away, never dreaming that those clothes would stay there for so long. 

 Sirius thought for a moment – should he clean this up? No. That would mean that his old life was completely gone, with no way of bringing it back. 

 Sirius threw himself down on the bed that his mother must have made, sometime before she'd been killed at a party. His father had followed her to death shortly after, he had been an Auror, and Sirius sometimes wondered if he'd gone into his last fight simply so that he _could die, and join the woman that he loved._

 Suddenly the door opened and Harry stepped inside. Looking around, the boy laughed. "I can well imagine this being your room, Sirius," he said, green-gold eyes dancing.

 Sirius grinned, his former mood forgotten as he bounded to his feet again, showing his godson everything that he had.

*Harry's POV*

 Sirius looked so happy, but when he'd first come in, his godfathers expression had been melancholy and almost sad. 

 'He'll be remembering the times that he used to have here, kid. This place holds a lot of memories, and the majority of them are not good ones. Or at least, the good ones are stained the with tragedies that befell them later on,' his father told him.

 'Of course – I should have realised that,' Harry thought back, and allowed his godfather to show him the many odd things that had been collected here.

 Harry laughed over the trophy that Sirius had gotten from Dumbledore, and was even more amused because his father was grumbling about the fact that _he_ should have been the one to get the trophy, but he'd been made Head Boy, and he couldn't lose the position because of his pranks, so he'd been forced to be more careful.

 'Well, you _wanted_ to be Head Boy,' Lily informed him coolly, 'so it's your own problem.'

 Harry smiled to himself and followed Sirius out of the bedroom to wander around the house some more, Sirius and James both telling him many tales about the old place and it's previous occupants.

 Looking at his godfather, Harry decided it was a good thing that they would not be staying here permanently – being surrounded by so many memories was not good for the man.

 "Sirius, I think that we should look into finding another house very soon," he remarked. "This'll be all over the _Prophet the moment they realise that we've moved here, and who knows what will happen after that's come out?"_

 "True enough … I suppose we'd best get one of those Muggle newspapers …"

 "No, it's better to go to a magistrate," Harry interupted. "We'll get to see more of the place and learn something about it that way."

 "Again, true. Where is the closest of these Muggles?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly.

 "We don't want close, remember? We want to be removed from this place as much as possible," Harry said, rolling his eyes lazily.

 "So we do. London then?"  
 "A good idea – we'd get the best choices of properties that way – London is the best place for shopping for a lot of things in this country," Harry replied.

 "Let's go now then, huh?" Sirius said after a moment. Harry laughed and nodded, they stepped outside and walked down to the gates, since it was impossible to Aparate on the Black Manor grounds or castle, just like at Hogwarts.

 Sirius was wearing some Muggle clothes of his fathers, and Harry some that had previously been Sirius's. The first thing on both of their minds was: _find new clothes_.

 An hour later and dressed more suitably, Harry in black pants, a white t-shirt and a loosely fitting black leather jacket, and Sirius in almost the same, except that his t-shirt was red.  

 They spent a good deal of that day in a magistrates office, looking over the various houses for sale, but eventually found one to their liking – a smallish house with five bedrooms, one with an unsuit, a bathroom, kitchen, living room, den and two small rooms that could be used as studies.

 It came fully furnished, which was a great benefit, and cost one hundred thousand pounds. They would go and look at the house itself the next day, and then decide for certain whether or not to buy it.

 The next afternoon they'd paid the money and were standing, suitcases in hand, in the small reception area. "Home," Sirius remarked.

 Harry stared around the room and thought, so it is. I finally have a _home_, not just Hogwarts.

 He and Sirius walked inside, then suddenly grinned and hurtled for the stairs to choose which bedroom they wanted. Sirius took one look at the master bedroom and backed away with an expression of horror on his face.

 He looked at Harry – "it looks like an _adult's room," he whispered, looking at Harry with widened eyes. "I can't go in _there_!"_

 Harry laughed in response to that and promptly chose the biggest of the other bedrooms.

 Sirius walked around the other rooms, but in the end, as Harry, James and Lily knew he would, he went back to the master bedroom, since all of the other rooms were too small for his liking.

 A few moments later Harry heard his godfather talking sternly to the walls in his room, though he couldn't quite hear what Sirius was saying.

 'I think that he is probably telling the room that even if he is in the room, that doesn't make him an adult, and as long as the room remembers that, they can get on just fine,' James told Harry thoughtfully.

 'Some things never change,' Lily added. 'Thankfully Sirius is one of them – even Azkaban couldn't make him incurably adult or depressed. You've done wonders for him, son.'

 Harry blushed slightly at the compliment from his mother and surveyed his knew room – the first _proper room he'd ever had – the one in Privet Drive hadn't really seemed __his because he couldn't do anything with it._

 Looking around, he thought about the things that he could put up in here, and the first thing was a proper bookcase so that he didn't have books on the floor to trip over.

 A seconds thought took care of that, and another brought all of his books out and lined up on the shelf. Thinking wryly that he seemed to be turning into a study-bound bookworm like Hermione was for much of the time, Harry turned his attention to his clothes, and sent them all into the wardrobe, before flopping down on his bed and staring at the ceiling for a few moments before shaking his head and digging through his trunk for the satisfaction of doing something with his hands.

 It didn't take long to find a large photo album that his friends had put together when he'd been away at Seekers Academy, showing many pictures – the majority taking by Colin Creevey – of him and his friends.

 Finding a few in which he didn't look too forced, Harry magically enlarged them and set them on the ceiling so that he could look at them when he woke up or when he was just lying in bed.

 Going back to his trunk, he found the pictures of his parents and their school time friends, sending a few of the really nice ones, including a one of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, in human form, which he placed on his desk.

 By this time Sirius seemed to have finished his one sided conversation with his room and had come to lean on Harry's door, staring inside as his godson unpacked things.

 He seemed to find Harry's method humorous. Harry would take an item out of his trunk, turn it around in his hands after staring at it for a few moments, and while he was playing with it, he turned around the room, staring hard at everything there, and then finally placing it somewhere.

 The first time he did this, Sirius howled with laughter, but chocked it off when Harry turned to glare at him. He continued to chuckle quietly to himself while Harry repeated the process with everything else, carefully setting his broomstick against one corner of the room.

 Harry finished and stalked out his room to go and stand at his godfathers' door, Sirius trotting along behind him, still grinning. "Ok, you get in there and unpack _your_ things!" Harry said, laughing. The expression on his godfather's face went from amusement to horror in seconds.

 Harry smiled in a smug fashion and watched as Sirius went about the task with a dejected look on his face while Harry laughed at _him_ in return.

 When Sirius was properly unpacked, they headed outside in Animagus forms to examine the neighbourhood. Harry kept himself carefully invisible and left Sirius to be in the public view.

 They were mainly Muggles, Harry was quick to realise, though he was fairly certain that one or two of them were wizards who would recognize Sirius Black.

 As he moved invisible through the town, he saw someone he had never thought to see again: his old baby sister, Mrs. Figg. Or rather, a person who smelt like her and looked somewhat like her, only about fifty years younger than the older woman that he knew.

 Sirius was nearby and heard Harry's soft call, though none of the humans would have. He saw Mrs. Figg and a look of absolute delight took over his canine face.

 Motioning with his head for Harry to follow, Sirius padded happily up to Mrs. Figg's side and barked softly.

 Mrs. Figg looked down at him and smiled. "Sirius, there you are! I'd been hoping that you'd turn up here soon – I've got news for you. Did you know that you are still a married man? Going to Azkaban didn't change it, and your wife is still faithful to you. She's living in America, but why don't you come back to my place with me, we can talk then," she said.

 Harry nearly lost his footing – Sirius was married? And he knew Mrs. Figg? He shook his head slightly and bounded into the air, careful not to disturb the air too much, and flew after them, watching from a height to see what was happening below him.

 Mrs. Figg entered a house and Harry saw that there were five cats sunning themselves on the porch – it seemed that this was the same woman that he had once known.

 He landed gently on the ground outside and waited for the other two to arrive. Harry made no move or sound until the door was opening, then he bounded silently forward and slipped inside without disturbing anything, Sirius knew he was there, though. He could never hide his presence completely from his godfather.

 "Well, Sirius, I believe that it is safe for you to transform here," Mrs. Figg said. Sirius did so immediately, and gestured to Harry, _are you here or not? If you are, just touch my left arm, otherwise do nothing._

 Harry did nothing and waited for Sirius to make another move. "Well Arabella, it's been some time since I saw you last, a little over a year, it must be now."

 "So it is. The last I saw of you was the day my charge Mr. Potter was arrested. I wish that the Fidelius Charm hadn't needed renewing on that very day!"

 "It needs renewing?" Sirius asked, frowning.

 "Yes, every … oh, I'm not sure quite how many days it is, but every so many days the spell needs renewing – I think that it's around three hundred, so almost a year, but not quite … Dumbledore keeps track of things," Mrs. Figg said absently.

 Sirius nodded. "It must have simply been ill luck that it was one of those days," he remarked.

 "And the Ministry could have found out where he lived from someone who'd been told already," Mrs. Figg remarked "You never know, because he'd told at least his friends where he lived, and most of the Hogwarts Professors needed to be told as well …"

 "So they do…" Sirius remarked. "Who was Harry's Secret Keeper, by the way?" He added as an afterthought.

 "Oh, Dumbledore and I – it was a version of the spell that was used with Lily and James, split up for safety, in case of attack, so that someone else could get to Harry in time to get him out of the house and away," Mrs. Figg replied. "Where _is_ Harry, by the way? I thought that he'd be with you."  
 "Oh, he'll be around somewhere, exploring," Sirius replied with a shrug. "Would you like to meet him sometime?"  
 "Yes, sometime that would be nice – I might come over to your house for a visit one of this days soon," Mrs. Figg replied absently. "Now, I wanted to tell you about your wife, the poor dear.

 "She fled here when you were arrested, she knew the truth, I presume, but couldn't convince the Ministry. She's been living in the United States, and I doubt that she's heard of your innocence yet … I sent her an owl a few weeks ago, but it may take her awhile to get it and reply – my poor owl is getting rather old now, I'm afraid."

 Sirius smiled at her, "is that the same one I gave your for Christmas the year after we left Hogwarts?" He asked, and laughed when she nodded. "Yes, he would be getting old now!"

 "I probably should get a new one, soon, the poor old fellow should be retired … oh well, he was a good owl, and the spell that made him live longer than normal certainly worked…" Mrs. Figg said, grinning herself.

 The talk wandered from there on, Harry just lay near the door and stared at his godfather, the only coherent thought he could form was: _Sirius is married._

 'Of course he is – although I would have thought that Menolly would have wanted a divorce after Sirius was arrested," Lily remarked thoughtfully. 'Well, she _did_ love him, and she would have realised that Sirius would never betray you, James.'

 'Yeah. She left the country – maybe that was because no one trusted her for believing Sirius was innocent and trying to prove it … it would have made her seem like a Death Eater, since she _was married to someone they __thought was a Death Eater,' James added thoughtfully._

 'We would have mentioned something before then if we'd known she hadn't divorced him,' Lily told Harry, 'but it never seemed _all that important anyway.'_

 Sirius and Arabella Figg finished their conversation, Harry heard Mrs. Figg tell Sirius that she would come over for a visit sometime in the next few days. Sirius nodded and changed form back to a dog, padding out the door with Harry at his side.

 "You could have mentioned that you were married," Harry told Sirius when they had reached their own house. "And how do you know Mrs. Figg?"

 "She was one of Lily's best friends at Hogwarts, and offered to watch over you in the guise of an old lady – she couldn't do anything much to help you, or tell you anything about the wizarding world, because you weren't supposed to know until you got your letter, but she could – and did – keep the Death Eaters from finding you."

 'Another thing you didn't think to mention mum? You knew Arabella Figg at school? You could have said she was one of your friends,' Harry thought to his mother.

 His only reply was laughter from both parents.

********************************************************

Aren't I nice? No cliffie this chapter – next chapter, Menolly Black makes her appearance, more about Arabella Figg, and some Death Eaters action, since there hasn't been any for a while.

Thanks To:

Rachel A. Prongs, Lord R, solar, Old Fawkes, Wytil, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Cadnet, Jordan, SlytherinAtHeart, ambookworm274, Them Girl, Songbreeze Swifteye, Maxx77, Narcissa Malfoy, Tasidia, Mysterious666, athenakitty, Jersey Girl, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Lady Prongs, Clare, Lady Bird, pricess55, Dog Stars Crush, phoenixrising, Mandie, Pamela-Potter-24, Arianne, Destruxion and Mr Happy Java Man.

31 reviews! Yay! Review this chapter too please! There is an excert from the next chapter just down there *points further down the page*.

~WolfMoon~

Excerpt:

Chapter Sixteen:

 It was three days before Arabella Figg came to see them as she'd promised to do, though Harry often saw her from a distance when he went to the shops or out for a walk.

 When she did come, it was in the middle of lunch, Harry and Sirius were seated at the table, their conversation wandering over various fields of thought, when suddenly there was a pounding on the door, which burst open before either of them could stand and Arabella Figg burst into the room, grinning from ear to ear and waving a sheaf of paper around in the air.

 Harry bounded to his feet and offered her a chair, the woman was panting to hard to speak, but still waving the paper around, as if she couldn't stop.

 Harry took it carefully out of her hand so it didn't rip and handed it to Sirius, who read it quickly, eyes darting down the paper. Suddenly a look of complete joy and surprise swept over his face and he fainted.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Reponse to a review:

 Lily and James didn't tell Harry about Mrs. Figg because they never knwe that she was his baby sitter. They didn't know that Sirius had been arrested, and when they found out, they assumed that he and Menolly had devorced or something.

Chapter Sixteen:

 It was three days before Arabella Figg came to see them as she'd promised to do, though Harry often saw her from a distance when he went to the shops or out for a walk.

 When she did come, it was in the middle of lunch, Harry and Sirius were seated at the table, their conversation wandering over various fields of thought, when suddenly there was a pounding on the door, which burst open before either of them could stand and Arabella Figg burst into the room, grinning from ear to ear and waving a sheaf of paper around in the air.

 Harry bounded to his feet and offered her a chair; the woman was panting to hard to speak, but still waving the paper around, as if she couldn't stop.

 Harry took it carefully out of her hand so it didn't rip and handed it to Sirius, who read it quickly, eyes darting down the paper. Suddenly a look of complete joy and surprise swept over his face and he fainted. Harry picked up the paper again and read through it himself.

 _Dearest __Bell__,_

_ It's great to hear from you, and the news! Well, I'm coming back as soon as possible, I just have a few things to take care of! Oh, this is wonderful! Tell Sirius that he's a father now! Our daughters name is Eliza Black – I kept the name that he wanted her to have._

_ Her terms nearly over now, and I'm putting our house on the market – where should I come to? Send an owl back as fast you can! Oh I can't wait to see Sirius again!!!!_

_Your old friend,_

_Menolly Black._

 "No wonder he fainted," Harry remarked to Arabella, who nodded, still panting. Harry walked over to the sink and got a glass of water for her, which she gulped at for a moment, managing to calm down a little.

 'Wow! If I was still alive, I'd be a godfather! And you're a god brother!' James said, Harry could almost feel his father bouncing up and down in happiness.

 He smiled, and looked at Arabella. "So you're a witch," he said, and it wasn't a question. Arabella nodded. 

 "Wish I could have told you," she remarked. "I'm one of your godmothers, actually – Menolly is the other one."

 Harry immediately started asking his parents questions about why they hadn't mentioned this already, while he asked Arabella aloud if she wanted something to eat or drink.

 She declined both. "Perhaps you should get your godfather up," she remarked, a laugh in her voice.

 "Hmm … good idea – it's time I got him back for all the times that he's woken me," Harry said, grinning wickedly, suddenly a cloud appeared above Sirius's head and a heap of water came pouring down on top of him.

 Sirius woke up and bounded his feet with a yelp of surprise. Harry laughed at him and spoke one word: "payback."

 Sirius laughed, then remembered why he'd fainted in the first place, and collapsed into a chair. "I'm a father," he said, eyes wide with shock.

 Arabella had got her breath back now. "Yes, so you are. It's a good thing that this house has a few extra bedrooms, since they'll need a place to stay!" She told him, grinning.

 "I have to send a letter back," Sirius was suddenly on his feet and searching for quill and parchment. Harry sighed softly and summoned both things, shoved his godfather into a chair and went to find Hedwig to take the letter back.

 In his room the young phoenix was perching on a low wooden perch that Harry had bought for it, not too far off the ground so that if it tried to fly or fell off, it wouldn't have far to fall.

 Hedwig was perched within her cage, watching the phoenix with interest, there was no trace of like or dislike in her amber eyes, but she flew from the cage to settle on Harry's shoulder as he came inside the room.

 Harry looked around the rest of the room, smiling to himself. He'd found time to get to London and buy some more things for his room, and now there were curtains over the windows that seemed to be made out of fire, or at least be on fire in the first place.

 There were various pictures of Seekers and Quidditch teams moving over the walls, not one team in particular, as he didn't _really_ follow any one team, but plenty of pictures nonetheless.

 Entering the kitchen again, he found Sirius staring at the parchment in front of him, as if unable to think of what to write. So far all that it said was, "Dearest Menolly," and the date.

 Harry shook his head, and Arabella rolled her eyes. Telling Hedwig to wait with Sirius, Harry wandered outside, Arabella following him and leaving Sirius to figure out this dilemma for himself.

 "This will be good for him," Harry remarked softly. 

 "It will be good for you both," Arabella answered, just as quiet. "You need a woman in your life, someone to teach you about responsibility, caring and love. Heaven knows Sirius couldn't be trusted with that."

 Harry laughed and nodded in agreement. "So why have you moved away from Little Whinging, Mrs. Figg?" He asked her, thinking of it only then.

 "I only stayed to keep an eye on you – this place was my families home, and I came back here a month gone. Then you turned up again, and it seems that I'll be helping to look after you again," Arabella remarked. "And please, call me Arabella."

 "Arabella it is then," Harry replied, smiling at her. He liked her better this way, as a young woman who'd been friends with his mother, rather than the old woman who'd been obsessed with her cats.

 They talked of little things, the weather, old memories, Hogwarts, Sirius, the house, Harry's parents, and even a few words about cats. Sirius never once came outside the house, and eventually Arabella left and Harry went inside to find Sirius still pouring over his letter, which had, at least, gotten somewhat longer, although crumpled up pieces of parchment covered the floor.

 Harry laughed at the sight, and took a picture before Sirius could stop him, which led to a chase all around the house, changing forms and darting this way and that, until they both collapsed, panting and laughing in front of the TV.

 Sirius had been very surprised at the TV, but once Harry had explained it, he took to loving the thing, so they ended up watching TV most nights, though Harry often took himself away and went outside to stare up at the starry sky and wonder what life could have been like had things not happened the way they had.

***

 A week later Hedwig returned with a note from Menolly saying that she'd be arriving in two weeks time. Harry immediately sent his owl off to the Weasley's place to ask Ron and Hermione to come and stay for a while, since Sirius was not being very good company lately.

 They accepted and the entire Weasley clan came over for lunch, enabling Harry and Sirius to tell them what had happened so far in the holidays.

 "Good for you Sirius!" Hermione said, when she heard about his wife coming back to, presumably, live with them. 

 "Welcome to the world of sibling rivalry," Ron muttered under his breath to Harry.

 "I'm sure everything will be fine," Harry replied, keeping his voice at close to the same pitch. The children wandered up to Harry's room soon after that, especially once Hermione learned that Harry had a phoenix.

"Oh, but that's wonderful! It's ever so rare to have a phoenix, and they are incredibly loyal!" Hermione said, and immediately sat down on the floor beside the phoenix to pet it.

 "Cool room Harry!" Ron said, looking around the room, wincing at a few of the photos, and grinning at others.

 "We'll go up to Black Manor tomorrow, and play Quidditch, go to the Library, and I'll show you my room there as well," Harry said, grinning happily.

 "Cool!" Ron replied, grinning, and then Harry took them to see there own rooms.

 They spent a good two weeks, although Sirius got increasingly nervous with each passing day, none of them could blame him, and just tried to keep out of his way.

 On the last day of their visit, the day before Menolly was due to arrive, Sirius had them all in a frenzy of cleaning, to make sure that the house was absolutely _spotless_ for his wife's arrival.

 'I never thought I'd see the day that Sirius wanted to clean something,' James remarked to Harry that night, after Ron and Hermione had used the Floo Network to get back to the Burrow.

 'How old is Eliza?' Harry asked.

 'She's almost a year younger than you, she would have had her fifteenth birthday just before you left Hogwarts, so she'll be in your year,' Lily replied.

 'Ah, that's good … I think. What about Menolly?' 

 Harry had asked all this before. It turned out that Menolly, Lily and Arabella had been the best of friends when they'd been in school, and the female equivalent of the Marauders, although the girls actually paid attention to their schoolwork, and generally managed to avoid getting in trouble with the teachers.

 Harry fell asleep that night with his parents' voices arguing in his mind, and dreamt of their days in Hogwarts, which they had allowed him to see.

 When he woke in the morning, it was to Sirius shaking him, trying to get him up. "Come on! Get up! Have a shower! Get dressed – and wear _good_ clothes!' His godfather told him, before racing off downstairs to check on something.

 Harry dragged himself out of bed and threw open the wardrobe. "Muggle clothes or wizard?" he yelled downstairs at his godfather.

 "Wizard!" Sirius yelled back. "And not the Seeker robes! Menolly might find them intimidating!"

 'She won't. It takes a lot to intimidate Menny,' Lily said. 'But how about wearing blue jeans, a white top and that nice emerald over-robe with the gold around the edges?'

 'Sounds good to me, what do you think dad?' Harry replied.

 'Good,' Was James only response. 

 Harry laughed, collected his clothes and headed for the shower.

 When he came out and headed downstairs to the kitchen, he was engulfed with black smoke. 'Uh oh, looks like Sirius decided to try his hand at cooking,' James remarked wickedly.

 Harry sighed, called on the air elementals and sent the smoke whisking away outside. In the kitchen, he found Sirius, covered from head to foot with charcoal, and a burning ruin with might have once been an oven.

 "Alright, upstairs and into the shower with you!" Harry ordered his godfather with a sigh. "Change clothes, and clean those ones properly, leave the cooking to me!"

 Sirius seemed only too happy to obey, disappearing upstairs with incredible speed. Harry surveyed the ruined oven, the waved his hand at it, using Wandless magic to take it back to the way it had been.

 He didn't even try to figure out what Sirius had been cooking, but set about making a roast – he'd done it often enough at the Dursley's to know the way to do these things.

 When Sirius came back downstairs looking clean, shaven and handsome, his face alight with happiness and laughing at his mistake, he found the table set for breakfast.

 "They won't be here for another couple of hours," Harry told his godfather. "Sit down and eat something – you can't just starve yourself until they come!"

 Sirius did as he was told.

 Finally, in the early afternoon, there was a knock on the door. Sirius actually overset the kitchen table in his haste to get there, leaving Harry to clear up the mess with a wave of his hand, before following his godfather into the hall.

 In the doorway stood an incredibly beautiful woman, 'almost as pretty as Sky was,' Harry thought to his parents. 

 'Our Menny was never just one of the crowd,' Lily replied. At her side was a girl, tall and willowy, with long hair falling in jet black waves to her hips, her eyes were the same gentle grey that Sirius's were, and her features as perfect as her mothers. 

 They were both wearing robes, Eliza's were pale blue with silver around the edges, and Menolly's were of a bright, vibrant gold, setting out her dancing eyes and golden-blonde hair.

 Sirius bounded forwards and swept her off her feet in a hug, which she returned, kissing his teasingly on the lips. "Oh Syr, it's _so_ good to see you again!" Her voice was low and throaty, going well with her very 'out there' attitude and appearance.

 Sirius set her down again and embraced his daughter. "It's nice to meet you, finally, father," Eliza said, her grey eyes dancing playfully, clashing with her polite phrasing.

 Her voice was sweet and musical, and even though she was incredibly beautiful, Harry did not once think of her as anything other than the girl who was to be his sister. He knew that she'd be turning the heads of all of the boys in Hogwarts, if she came there, but he felt no more than brotherly affection.

 When Sirius let her go, after greeting her with complete joy and happiness in his voice, she slipped away to join Harry. 

 "Hi, I'm Harry, Sirius's godson," Harry told her, smiling happily. "Do you want me to show you around the house?"

 "Sure, that'd be great!" Eliza replied, linking arms with him. "We can leave them to have long conversations about the passed and catch up on everything."

 "Do you like Quidditch?" Harry asked her, showing her around the bottom floor of the house.

 "Do I ever! It's the best sport in the world! American's don't like it much … I can't see why! Some of my friends and I played over in America – I was a Beater," Elisa said brightly, smiling happily.

 Glancing at her, Harry noted that while she was willowy and graceful, anyone who mistook her for weak was in for a big surprise. And probably quite a painful one.

 Chatting amiably, they wandered around the house, and Harry showed her the three rooms she could choose for her bedroom. "It's so clean, Mom always said that I inherited my messy habits from me," Elisa remarked, staring around the house.

 "Oh, don't worry about that – you did. He just wants to make a good impression. He blew up the oven this morning," Harry replied. "And of course I was the one who had to clean it up."

 Elisa laughed. "Want to go out for a fly?" she asked him, grey eyes bright with the same expression that Sirius wore when he was about to go flying.

 Harry grinned. "Sure!" he replied brightly, and raced into his own room to get his broom. On the way downstairs, they could hear Sirius and Menolly talking happily in the living room.

 Elisa picked up a broomstick from the baggage at the door, and they headed outside, Harry led the way to a secluded clearing where they could fly without disturbing the Muggles.

 "So you're a Seeker are you? Show me some of your flying!" Elisa said, and Harry, never to turn down a challenge, took off in a series of swoops, dives and turns that impressed her no end.

 "Wow! None of my friends could fly like that! None of them were anywhere near as good as I was either … I guess there must be something that runs in the family, even if there is the love of flying to begin with," she told him.

 "Show me what you can do?" Harry offered her, and, laughing, she did so. They spent almost three hours there, though neither of them really noticed the passing of time. 

 They got on like a house on fire, daring each other to do this or that putting each other through tests of courage and daring and talking all the while of friends and experiences.

 "I've never had much to do with guys," Elisa said. "Apart from the ones that I've known pretty much since the time I was born, they're my friends, with a couple of girls as well, but the rest of them just stare, or ask me out, or try to kiss me," she made a face. "I'm glad your not like that!"

 Harry laughed. "The same goes for me, at least as far as the not having much to do with girls. One of my two best friends is a girl, but she's a book worm, and she started dating my other best friend sometime last year – they haven't realised that I know yet … no one else does…"

 The time passed quickly, and as dark approached, they realised just how much had passed, and landed, racing each other to get to the house for dinner.

 "You kids have fun?" Menolly asked. "Let me look at you, Harry," she added, Harry obediently stood back and allowed her to look him over. Suddenly she bounded forward and hugged him. 

 "Well godson of mine, I hope you and my daughter had fun," she said, smiling.

 "We did!" Elisa said brightly. "We played Quidditch, Harry's a Seeker, and he's really good."

 "You're no pushover yourself. Are you coming to Hogwarts?" Harry replied.

 Elisa looked at her mother. "Of course she is!" Menolly replied, as if it was perfectly obvious. "The only reason she never came before was because I didn't want her being teased about her father!"

 "Cool!" Harry and Elisa said at once. "If you're in Gryffindor, you'll be able to join the team – we are short a Beater at the moment!" Harry continued as they sat down around the table for dinner.

 Three days later Elisa insisted on inviting Ron and Hermione over so that she could meet them. Sirius shrugged when asked and went to talk to Arthur through the fire.

 It was organised remarkably quickly, and Ron and Hermione would arrive for another week in two more days.

 Elisa and Harry gave each other a high five and dashed off to visit their godmother, Bella, as she was now called by both of them.

 Watching them run off, Sirius smiled. "She's good for Harry," he remarked. "He needed to get to know more young people, he wasn't all that comfortable with them last year, for all he was pretty much the leader of their group … Eli is very out going and Harry's becoming more and more like her with each passing hour."

 Menolly nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's so good to be back here … we really should go and talk with Professor Dumbledore about what's going to happen with school this year, though."

 "Tomorrow, we'll take the kids with us," Sirius decided after a moments thought.

***

 Not so far away another mind was thinking of the Hogwarts headmaster, but with no such ideas about visiting him.

 Voldemort sprawled over a large stone chair and thought of murder. 

 _You always suspected me, Dumbledore … but like the fool you were, you never did anything about me … until it was too late for your precious world! I will take over and you'll suffer! You and your friends will suffer for your defiance of me! Don't you realise that I _am_ the future? You cannot defeat me … Potter can _try_ but he'll never defeat me again … What did he learn in the __Seekers__ _Academy___? If anyone ever won the right to go there, it was ME, not Dumbledore's foolish little golden boy! _

_ Ooh, he'll suffer greatly for every time he foiled my plans, every time he just escaped from me … yes, he'll suffer, along with his old mentor, Dumbledore …_

Voldemort knew that the thoughts were insane, but he didn't care. Fools like Dumbledore said that insanity was a bad thing, and Dumbledore never spoke the truth, therefore it was good that he was insane … 

 A knock on the chamber door interrupted his mad, rambling thoughts, and the Dark Lord straightened himself on his throne, and snarled at the knocker to enter.

 Peter Pettigrew, the stinking little rat pushed the door open and scampered into the room, looking nervously this way and that.

 "What do you want, Wormtail?" Voldemort snarled coldly.

 The man shuddered when his masters' gaze swept across him, and almost took a step back … almost.

 "We checked at Black Manor, master, we did everything you told us to do, but Potter wasn't there, Master," he whined.

 Voldemort nearly killed the man then and there for that. The whining was really starting to get on his nerves.

 As if he sensed this, Peter backed away slightly, eyes wide and afraid behind the silver mask. _And that was the only one who could have brought me back to proper life … that is the only reason he still lives, Voldemort thought in disgust._

 "Well what are you doing back here? They'll come back soon enough! Watch and wait, Wormtail, and kill them when they come!" Voldemort's raised to a shriek of madness, and he could almost taste the triumph of knowing that his long time enemy would soon be dead … and with him, the Potter line.

 Peter bowed and backed out fast.

 A moment later another knock came, sharp and cruel, not small and weak like Peter's knock had been.

 "Enter!" Voldemort growled.

 The door opened and Severus Snape stepped in, black robes billowing around him, he strode forward until he was two meters away from his master, and bowed perfectly.

 A good Death Eater, Severus, Voldemort mused. It was a pity that he couldn't trust the man as he had before – he still could not be sure whether the man was friend or foe.

 "What have you to report, Severus?" He asked, voice silky.

 "There are a set of prisoners who are willing to join your ranks, Master," Severus replied, voice cool and fearless. "Would you like to take care of them yourself, or leave them to your Inner Circle?"

 "Bring them here tomorrow morning, Severus, they will have the honour of being marked by my own hand!" the dark lords' voice was as silky as Severus's own.

 Severus bowed once more and retreated, not staying long enough to try his master's patience.

 Stepping into the hall, Severus Snape shivered slightly. Voldemort was mad – stark raving mad! It was a pity that he was a madman with a longing for pain and suffering, and a madman who was smart enough not to get caught. 

 Cursing the folly of a young man, fresh out of school, who'd joined the Death Eaters because they were powerful and to get revenge on Potter and Black, Severus stalked away down the corridor.

 At Bella's house, the young woman was laughing with her two godchildren about various things that had happened recently. She was still coming to terms with finding them again, after so long apart – not in the least was the joy of finding out that she had a goddaughter, not just a godson.

 The pair, though they'd known each other for a scant few hours, almost a day, were inseparable, always laughing and joking, challenging one another to do this or that.

 Arabella loved them both so much, she almost wished that she _had_ found a man she'd liked and settled down to have children of her own, but she'd always been wary of the opposite sex … except for Remus, but Remus and she couldn't have been together, because he was a werewolf, and werewolves can't marry.

 But he wasn't any more, she reminded herself. She could go and see him, see if she still loved him, after all of these years … yes, she would have to do that, and soon.

 Smiling to herself, and at her god children, Arabella made her decision.

 Shortly after this Sirius and Menolly turned up to collect Harry and Elisa, to go and see Dumbledore.

 "What's he like?" Elisa asked, nervous for the first time in the short period of time that Harry had known her.

 "He's great," Harry replied, grinning happily. "I won't tell you that much, it'd ruin the surprise!" Elisa punched him lightly on the shoulder in response.

 Sirius and Menolly had gone ahead to open the Floo network so that they could come through that, because they didn't want anyone finding out that Elisa – or Menolly for that matter – was back in England. Menolly had borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak.

 A moment later Sirius's head appeared in the fire. "Come on through kids, just say Dumbledore's Office, ok?" 

 "Right dad!" Elisa saluted her father, who winked and disappeared from the fire place. "I'll go first," Elisa told Harry, who merely nodded.

 She threw some powder onto the fire and yelled out the destination, and then she was gone.

 Harry waited for a minute, then repeated the performance, stepping out of the fire a moment later into Dumbledore's familiar office. His godparents and Elisa were standing a little ways away from the fire to give him room to get out.

  Albus Dumbledore himself was seated behind his large desk, and Fawkes was perched on his shoulder.

 "Ah Harry! There you are. Now, perhaps, Sirius could tell me the meaning of all this excitement?"

 Sirius needed no second bidding, and leaped into the tale, telling it from the beginning but telling only the necessary bits of information.  

 When he finished, Dumbledore nodded. "Ah, this makes much more sense now. Elisa, you'll be wanting to start school here, I presume?"

 "Yes, Professor Dumbledore," she replied, smiling happily at him.

 "Well, I certainly see no reason that you shouldn't. Would you like be Sorted here and now or would you rather wait until school starts?"

 "Now," Elisa said firmly.

*Elisa's PoV**First person*

 The nice old man, Headmaster Dumbledore, took an old and really battered hat off the shelf. Much to my surprise, when he put it on the desk in front of my, it spoke.

 "Is it time for a new lot of students already?" It asked, I'm not quite sure _who_ it was talking to. "I haven't finished the new song yet … I'd thought I had another month at least!"

 "You do, we've just got a new comer to the school who'd rather be sorted without all of the fuss and bother of the normal Sorting ceremony. She'll be joining Sixth Year," Dumbledore explained to it.

 I nearly laughed, it looked so silly, talking to a hat like that. And the hat talking as well.

 "Well, let's get this over with then!"

 Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled, and he put the hat on my head. It fitted almost perfectly.

 _Ah, a Black eh? Your father was a trouble causer, and it seems like you'll be his match too. And a good friend of Mr. Potter too? You do have some connections._

_ Well, let me think, where would you go – there's bravery, and friendship, loyalty, brains … even if you don't have all that much of a regard to use them._

_ 'Please, I want to be in Gryffindor,' I told it, as firmly as I could think._

_ Gryffindor eh? Well … I can't deny that you'd do well there, and your foster brother would be good company for you … yes, Gryffindor does suit your personality well enough._

_ GRYFFINDOR._

 It spoke the last word out loud, and I was very happy about that, opening my eyes and looking at my parents, I saw them glowing with pride.  

 My brother, as I always think of Harry Potter, was smiling at me, he was proud too, in his own way.

***  
  


 When Ron and Hermione arrived two days later, they became immediate friends with Elisa and Menolly, Hermione loved having another girl in their little group.

 "Hey! We can be the Marauders Generation Two now!" Elisa said suddenly on the second night of the visit. "There are four of us, and Harry and I are both Marauders children!"

 "Yeah!" Ron and Harry both looked delighted with the notion. Hermione was a little more hesitant, but she agreed fairly quickly, especially for her.

 "We'll have to swear the Marauders Oath," Harry remarked – he and Elisa had heard all about it from Sirius since Elisa had come.

 "The Marauders Oath?" Hermione repeated, frowning slightly.

 "Yeah," Harry nodded vigorously. "You have to swear to cause as much trouble for the Slytherins as you possibly can, and never let an opportunity for a prank pass by without taking it!"

 Ron and Hermione both laughed. "That sounds like the kind of thing that Sirius would swear," Hermione remarked.

 "I mightn't know my father _that well, but I know that as well," Elisa said, grinning happily._

 "So will we all swear?" Harry asked them, slightly impatient.

 "Swear!" Three voices echoed, one slightly behind the rest. They all repeated the Oath in perfect union, and then let out a cheer and raced inside, because it was getting cold out.

 Inside they found Sirius and Menolly, lying on the couch before the fire, Sirius's arms gently circling Menolly's waist, staring into the fire without seeming to see the four teenagers go passed.

 "They are really good for each other, aren't they, love?" Menolly remarked sleepily to Sirius.

 "Definitely," Sirius agreed. "Harry was taught never to trust anyone while we were at Seekers Academy, I'm just glad that I was there with him, to keep him company and stop him from completely withdrawing himself. They are teaching him to come out again, and I'm grateful for that."

 Menolly nodded. "Even when we first arrived, I could feel it. Well, Eli will cure him of that fast enough – you can't _not trust Eli, she's always so happy and open."_

 Sirius smiled, and kissed her forehead. "Come on then, we can make our children dinner," he said brightly.

 Menolly bounded to her feet, wand in hand as she spun around to face him. "Put one hand _near_ that oven and I'll curse you to hell and back!" She warned.

 Sirius laughed and raised his hands as if to ward off a blow. "Very well love, _you_ can go and make dinner for our children. I'll go and make sure that they behave themselves up there!"

 "You mean you'll give them lessons in how to break the rules without appearing to have done so, and school them in the art of telling lies that can be believed," Menolly said, scowling good naturedly.

 "Same thing," Sirius replied with a shrug, and padded upstairs.

 Menolly shook her head and walked into the kitchen, wondering what she was going to cook for her family tonight.

 Upstairs Harry, Ron, Hermione and Elisa were hiding beneath the Invisibility cloak, watching in silent mirth as Sirius searched for them. They'd changed clothes into warmer ones, and were going outside as soon as the coast was clear.

 It didn't take long to get passed Sirius and downstairs, Menolly certainly never looked up, so getting outside from then on was easy enough.

 Once they were outside, they headed for their forest, as they thought of it, although it was actually a public one, they were pretty much the only people who ever went in there regularly.

 Finding the clearing that they often played Quidditch – or at least flew – in, they took of the cloak and sat around on the ground beneath the trees.

 "What are we doing tonight?" Ron asked interestedly.

 "I want to teach you how to become Animagi like me and Sirius," Harry replied. "And I want to try something that I learned in Atlantis as well, but I might not do that tonight."

 He'd told Elisa about that, and about the powers that he commanded – he'd told Arabella as well, since he'd woken Sirius up with Elemental Magic.

 "But won't the Ministry realise?" Hermione asked worriedly.

 "That's why I'm going to take off the spell that monitors your wands, although Elisa can use magic – she isn't monitored, since she's from America," Harry replied.

 Ron raised a small cheer. "Finally! I can get Fred and George back … they've been absolute hell, playing pranks on Ginny, Hermione and I twenty-four seven with magical spells," he said. Hermione nodded in fervent agreement.

 Harry held out his hands and took Ron's wand, concentrating on it for a moment, he could feel the spell that had been woven there. Having forgotten the charm that Sirius had used on his own wand, all those months ago, he simply snatched at some of the Wandless Magic that was in his mind, and drew out to blast the other spell out of the way. 

 With a slight shake of his head to clear his vision from the magical explosion that only he could see, Harry handed Ron's wand back and waited for Hermione to give him hers.

 A seconds thought got rid of that spell too, and this time he closed his eyes so that the explosion of light didn't affect him so much.

 He handed her wand back, and she quickly looked over it and made sure that there was no damage done to it. Ron did the same while Elisa watched calmly.

 Harry talked to them, telling them about the transformation, he'd already told Ron and Hermione about it, when they were visiting last, but tonight they weren't doing much, mostly just taking the spells off.

 They turned to go back, and saw black shapes on the path, Elisa yelped in surprise, as did Hermione, Harry tested his weapons, as he'd been trained to do when startled. 

 "Well, well, well, what have we got here?" A cold voice asked, sending shivers down Harry's spine.

********************************************************

There you go! A cliffie!

Thanks:

Litine, Jerseygirl03, solar, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Devonny Rose, Songbreeze Swifteye, Jordan, marauder kinchu, Maxx77, Queen of Redwall, Clare, Keely116, phoenixrising, Miranda Wecker, Lord R, SlytherinAtHeart, Rachel A. Prongs, Dog Stars Crush, etfrompo, fantasydima, athenakitty, Lady Prongs, Orion, FlyingGoat, Queen of the Junge, Queen of the Jungle, Destruxion, Arianne, Stoney Emerys, Pamela-Potter-24, and Miranda Wecker!

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~WolfMoon~


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen:

 Harry looked at them, although it was dusk, his eyes could pick out who they were, the black robes and the silver masks. Death Eaters then. All this flickered through his brain in seconds, and before he'd even thought the action through, his hand shot out, a dagger springing from his hand and burying itself in the leader's throat.

 The Death Eater let out a gurgling scream and fell, Harry knew he was dead the moment he hit the ground, but it was with a cool detachment, for his attention was already on the other four, who leapt forward as their leader fell.

 Speaking softly, he told his friends to keep back, and readied himself, not really hearing the screams of his friends for him to be careful, to get to Sirius or Menolly.

 Harry knew that none of the Death Eaters could leave here alive – otherwise Voldemort would know about Menolly and Elisa, before the time when he should find out anyway, that is.

 The first Death Eater leapt at him, and Harry freed Salazar Slytherins sword, swishing it over his head and bringing it down to slash across the mans chest and then swirling it around in a quick cut across the throat.

 The other two were somewhat smarter, coming at him from either side, the one coming from the left yelled a spell, Harry quickly checked on the man coming from the right, then at the last moment took a bounded step forward and left, bringing his sword up as he did so.

 The spell struck the other Death Eater, stunning him on the stop, and Harry killed the last with a quick stab straight into the heart.

 Harry spun, his unnatural eyesight sweeping the area for any trace that there was someone else there. Satisfied he turned to his friends. "They're gone," he remarked softly. "Let's get back to the house; there might be more of them there."

 With a frightened glance at the dead bodies, Elisa, Hermione and Ron dashed passed them and down the path, Harry in the lead. Seeing the house Harry skidded to a stop. It was a smoking ruin, but outside Sirius stood, eyes wide, his arms around Menolly's waist, holding her upright.

 On his shoulder perched Hedwig and Harry could hear his little phoenix trilling happily in the middle of the fire. Hearing them, Sirius and Menolly turned, and Menolly, with a sob of relief, raced over and threw her arms around Harry and Elisa.

 "You're alive," she whispered, as if she couldn't believe it.

 "Yeah, we're ok, mum," Elisa said softly. "There were more Death Eaters in the woods, but Harry killed them."  
 Sirius came over and gently extracted Harry from Menolly's arms, walking a short distance away with them.

 "Were they attacking you?" Harry asked, the moment they were out of earshot.

 "No, it was just chance that brought them, I'm fairly sure – they still think that we are at Black Manor, the last one saw me and said that there were people waiting at Black Manor for me, but what was I doing here," Sirius replied wearily.

 Harry nodded. "I didn't get that from the ones in the woods – there were four of them, but then, I never gave them the chance," he said. 

 Sirius sighed. "Well, we can get insurance on this place, but maybe it'd be a good idea to move from here?"

 "Maybe … we can tell the agent that we do not trust the area, they give us the money back and we go buy a new place, sound good?" Harry replied.

 "Yeah, but for now, I'm sure that Bella will let us stay with her for a few days, Ron and Hermione will have to go back to the Burrow tomorrow morning, I think … it's a good thing they never brought too much stuff with them!"

 Harry nodded and they went back over to the group of people – Aurors were Apparating on the scene, asking them questions hard and fast, though it didn't seem to be doing much good, because they were all in a state of shock.

 "Get them to Bella's," Sirius muttered to Harry, and strode forward, catching the leader by the arm and tugging him towards the house, paying no attention to the mans questions. 

 Harry used a summoning charm to bring his phoenix out of the ruins, casting the invisibility one over it at the same time. "Come one guys," he said to his family, "let's go the Bella's."

 Everyone followed him, Harry wasn't sure that Menolly had even heard, but Elisa was leading her gently by the arm. Bella had seen the smoke as was already coming to see if they were alright – they met her half way.

 "Come on, we'll get you inside, and a nice warm cup of tea, Menny dear," she said, helping Menolly into a chair. "You lot find seats and try to relax," she ordered the teenagers, who obeyed quickly.

 Soon they all had cups of tea in front of them, Harry lifted his and sipped it gently, though he was calm enough already – he was a Seeker, as was Sirius, and things like this was what they were trained for.

 Harry wished that his thoughts were not so cold, wished that he could retreat into the welcome arms of hysteria or shock, but such things now where beyond him, and in most cases he was glad.

 It was not long before Sirius came inside as well, looking weary. "The Aurors are going to talk to the Muggle Affairs Minister," he was looking at Menolly but addressing the whole group. "They'll act as a go between and organise this … insurance stuff."

 Harry, Hermione and Elisa nodded in understanding, Ron gave Sirius a blank look, and Menolly blinked. "Can we stay here for a little while?" Sirius asked Arabella imploringly. 

 "Of course, Sirius. You are welcome to stay here as long as you need to. Now, I'll just put some dinner on for you, that'll help you all!" She strode over to the stove and grabbed various different bits and pieces for a meal and set about making it.

 The four teenagers wandered outside to sit on the porch, they could see the smoke rising in the distance, and the screams of Muggle sirens going to investigate. 

 "The Aurors will wipe their memories and leave some other memory there for them to tell the public," Harry remarked. "Something that will let us get out of here easily with no questions asked."

 They nodded in agreement. "What a horrible thing to happen, and we haven't even been able to stay for long either," Hermione said with a sigh. "Maybe you could come over to the Weasley's for a while?"  
 "No, I don't think there'd be enough room," Harry replied, looking at Ron, who nodded. "Oh well, Eli and I can come over for a few days once we've found a new place."

 Ron and Hermione smiled at the thought. "That'd be great, I'd hate to see what you two did to Fred and George!" Hermione said enthusiastically, since she was getting very bored of being pranked on.

 Harry and Elisa laughed in agreement, just as Arabella called out that dinner was ready, and they scrambled inside – they were getting very hungry now.

 After dinner the teenagers all camped on Arabella's floor and introduced Ron to the wonders of television. This, he told them later, was one of the few Muggle inventions that he liked, and could use – a combination that was _very_ rare. 

 They slept soundly that night and woke late the next morning, to the sound of Menolly singing in the kitchen. "Seems like she's over it," Harry remarked to Elisa.

 "Yeah, nothing much can keep mom down for long!" Elisa replied, grinning. "I bags first shower!" then she was up and running for the shower so that no one could beat her there and have first shower.

 Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up, stretching and headed into the kitchen. "I used the fire to contact your parents," Menolly told Ron, "and you're due back home around twelve, which means you've got two hours to eat and say goodbye.  Plenty of time, and we'll be coming over to see you in a week or so, or for Harry's birthday, since that'll be coming up soon."

 Ron nodded and Hermione began to set the table, just as Elisa bounded into the room, hair still wet, the sound of the shower came on again. "Dad," Elisa said, jerking her head in the direction she'd come in.

 Harry sighed. "That means we can say goodbye to any chance of getting a shower ourselves," he remarked.

 "No it isn't, you just have to know Sirius from school to get him out of there," Menolly said, smiling. "Sirius honey! Pancakes! If you don't get out of there, they'll go cold!" she yelled up the stairs.

 Almost immediately the shower went off, just as Menolly put the first pancakes on the table, and Sirius hurtled into the room a moment later, nearly tripping over one of the cats.

 He threw himself into a seat at the table and grabbed the top pancake. The teenagers all burst out laughing, and Harry headed up for the next shower, since it'd be a while before all of the pancakes were done, and he didn't think he really wanted to contest with Sirius in the pancake area.

 He came down after a quick shower which made him feel a lot better, and met Hermione on her way up. "Don't even _try and get a pancake when Sirius is reaching for one," she warned._

 Harry nodded in thanks for warning and walked into the kitchen. Elisa and Sirius seemed to have started a competition about who could eat the most pancake the fastest.

 "If you need to get Sirius to do anything, promise him pancakes … the same works for Eli, I think she must have inherited it," Menolly said, smiling.

 "You feel ok?" Harry asked her.

 "Yes, I'm fine, I was just a little shocked, from yesterday – I thought you might be dead, when we could find you, but I'm fine now," Menolly assured him.

 Finally Harry saw a break in the pancakes and snatched a few for his own plate, sitting down beside Ron.

 "Not much of a visit, this one, was it?" He remarked with a faint sigh.

 "It's fine, it's the Death Eaters that stuffed it up, not us," Ron said with a shrug. "They're stuffing everything up everywhere …" 

 Harry nodded in agreement, glad that his best friend had gotten over the jealous stage he'd had a while ago, what with everything that had happened, he'd obviously realised that Harry's life _wasn't that great after all, and that they all needed to be as close as possible what with everything that was going on in the world now._

 Hermione came downstairs and Ron went for a shower, Harry and Hermione left Sirius and his daughter to their competition, and Menolly to see that they obeyed the rules.

 "Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked him, and Harry looked up in surprise.

 "Of course," he said. "Why?" 

 "Well, with everything that's happened, no ones stopped to see if you were alright, you killed those men, surely that effected you?" Hermione replied.

 "I suppose it does," Harry said slowly. "But I never really stopped to think, and I haven't really yet … I guess I was kind of afraid to. But they are Death Eaters, Hermione, and I do not think of them as human beings – it makes fighting them easier. No human being could do what they do."

 Hermione nodded her understanding. "I suppose that I should probably learn to think that way too," she remarked. "Sorry for mentioning it, I guess it's a bit of a touchy subject."

 "Not really … just something I'd rather avoid, if I can. It makes me feel something of a monster, sometimes," Harry replied.

 "A killer you may be, sometimes, Harry, but a monster is something that you could never be, even going to the Seekers Academy couldn't rid you of your internal honour and courage to stand and fight … in some ways, I think it only made it stronger. Never think of yourself as a monster, you are doing what is right for you, and what is right for many others. I won't say that you are doing the right thing, because there is no 'right' in this matter …" Hermione told him firmly.

 "My mind understands that, Hermione, truly it does, but my heart still suffers from it, more than I'll ever admit to anyone. Until you've killed another person, simply for the reason that they fight against you, you won't know what I feel – pray that you never have to."

 At that moment Ron entered and broke the foreboding spell that their conversation had brought them to. "Want to try and wrestle some more pancakes out of Eli and Sirius's clutches?" he asked them with a good natured smile.

 Laughing, the three old friends entered the kitchen. Sirius and Elisa were leaning on the table groaning, and Menolly was washing up, paying no attention to their moans and begs for her to kill them. 

 Harry, Ron and Hermione flopped into chairs and laughed at their dilemma. "Who won?" Harry asked them.

 "It was a draw," Menolly told him from the sink. "And now they are both sick. You two, go and lie down, now!" she added at the groaning pair, who were only too happy to comply with her orders.

 "Surely you could give them something to ease that?" Hermione half asked half stated. 

"Of course I could, but I'm not going to – they brought it upon themselves, acting as childishly as they did … although I'm not sure that Sirius knows any other way to act … oh well, Elisa should know better!" Menolly replied cheerily.

 At that moment Arabella stumbled downstairs, bleary eyed. "I don't know how you lot can be up and about already," she remarked. "Good god! Menolly you shouldn't have made breakfast, you should have waited for me to get up!" she added, when she realised how much had happened while she slept.

 "What, and left my poor family and guests to starve?" Menolly asked with a wicked grin.

 Arabella laughed. "Well, you've got a point there!" She remarked.

 Suddenly the burst open and Sirius and Elisa padded in, grinning happily. "Ha!" Sirius said, grinning, "You can't keep a Marauder down for long!" 

 The group laughed easily and Elisa slipped into a seat beside Harry, grinning happily. Menolly sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ron, Hermione, Arthur will be around to collect you soon," she told them. "Why don't you go outside and play for awhile – be careful and don't go too far from the house!"

 The teenagers nodded and headed for the door. Outside, they sat on the porch and stared at nothing for quite some time. "We'll miss you," Hermione finally said, looking at both Harry and Elisa. "We really didn't get enough time to get to know you, Eli, but we'll meet up again soon enough, for Harry's birthday if nothing else."

 Elisa stood up and hugged both of them, then Harry repeated the gesture, a little stiffly. "I'll miss you guys too," he told them, and there was no doubt that he meant exactly that. "Till we meet again!"

 Ron and Hermione headed into the house, and Harry and Elisa flopped down on the chairs again, staring at nothing again for a little while. They could both vaguely hear Arthur arrive, and then leave again a short time later, but neither of them moved or spoke.

 Finally, Harry broke the silence. "Did you like Ron and Hermione? They certainly liked you," he told his god-sister.

 "I liked them a lot. They seem really nice, even though I miss my friends in America, I can see that I'll make more over here," Elisa said, thinking her answer out carefully.

 Harry sensed the truth in her words, and nodded his head. "I'm glad that you like them – they're good friends, and it would be very hard to live if you hated each others guts," he remarked.

 Elisa laughed. "No fear of that, Harry! Your friends are great people!" She told him, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

 Sirius appeared at the doorway suddenly. "Could you two come inside, we need to talk about what's going to happen next," he said.

 "Sure dad!" Elisa bounded to her feet and dashed inside, Harry at her side. Coming into the living room, they noted that Arabella had gone up to her room to read or something and give the family some time to themselves.

 "What's up?" Harry asked – Sirius looked, for a change, serious. 

 "We were thinking of where to move, and maybe it's best that we go to the Black Manor," he said. "It could be dangerous, if Death Eaters are watching, but Black Manor has a way of protecting its own – you can't see in from the outside, and there are spells that I can activate to hide people on the grounds too, so the Death Eaters need never know that we are there, until we choose to let them know, of course. But we wanted to consult you before we did anything."

 "I think it's a good idea," Harry remarked, looking around at the others. Elisa was nodding, and Menolly smiled, so Harry knew that they had talked about this before.

 "That's good then, no one can get into the grounds without my permission, and Peter, while he had it once, lost it long ago," he smiled bitterly at that. Harry nodded in agreement, his now slightly more open eyes suddenly cold again.

 "So when will be leaving?" Elisa asked, trying to cover the moment – her father and her god-brother scared her when they became like this.

 "Soon … tomorrow maybe, or the day after. We don't want to stay here for too long, Voldemort is bound to wonder what happened to his Death Eaters, the ones that we killed, so it's best to be gone before he sends someone in to investigate," Sirius replied after a moments thought.

 There was another round of nods, and they broke up again, wandering off to do whatever.

 Two days later they did indeed move to Black Manor, easily avoiding the Death Eaters by travelling by Floo powder.

 Harry and Elisa were delighted with the new house, endless opportunities for exploration, a Quidditch pitch and a lake to swim in – they were going to love it here.

 "It's almost your sixteenth birthday, kid," Sirius remarked a day after they arrived. "Are we gonna go to the Weasley's, and when? I'll let you decide that."

 "I'll talk to Ron and Hermione," he promised, Sirius nodded once, and wandered off. 'Married life is good for him,' Lily remarked.

 'I'm not so sure about that …' James mumbled, starting off one of their arguments – Harry was fairly sure that James had only disagreed _because_ it would start off an argument.

 Harry raced off to find Elisa, they were going to go flying soon, even if it _was_ just the two of them. They were looking forward to the Weasley's place, since there were lots of people there.

 Back in the Manor, Menolly watched her two children – she never thought of Harry as a godson anymore, he was hers now, since Lily wasn't there for him anymore.

 At the thought of Lily, grief clouded her eyes – they'd been best friends from when they were five to the night Lily had died, and Menolly had felt that she was living without half of herself for a long time after her death. That feeling had only been intensified because Sirius had been arrested.

 Elisa's birth was the only thing that could have jolted her out of her depression, she thought later, so it was a very good thing that she was pregnant.

 Her attention returning to her children once more, she smiled. Those two seemed joined at the hip, they were always together, laughing, joking, challenging … quite like Sirius and James had been, actually.

 "Sirius, why do I get the feeling that is a reason that they are like you and James used to be?" She asked, feeling his presence behind her before he could speak or try to startle her.

 He slipped his arms around her waist and watched the two teenagers playing. "Because there is … but I can't tell you what it is yet – it's forbidden." He said after a moment, she could tell by the tone of his voice that he'd been thinking hard.

 "Then answer me one thing, will it hurt them?" Menolly said, not pushing her husband where he didn't want to go. 

 "It might," again, he'd thought it out. "But everything hurts sometimes, and what will happen to them will help a whole lot more than it would hurt."

 Menolly knew she'd get no more, and left it at that. She didn't understand what was happening to her children, but if Sirius was encouraging it, then it couldn't _that_ bad. She hoped.

 Three days later they left Black Manor for the Burrow, Harry having organised for him and Elisa to stay until his birthday, and Sirius and Menolly would join them there then.

 "Harry! It's so good to see you again!" Harry had forgotten that Mrs. Weasley hadn't seen him since before he went to Seekers Academy.

 "Hi Mrs. Weasley, nice to see you again too," Harry said politely, smiling at her. Mrs. Weasley let him go to go and greet Elisa happily, since she'd never met the girl before.

 Ron and Hermione raced into the room a moment later, skidding to a halt to avoid knocking anything over. "Harry! Elisa! You're here!" Ron panted out happily.

 "They are playing a game of Quidditch and sent Ron to see if you wanted to come and play to," Hermione added from behind him, also out of breath.

 "You bet we do! Bye Mrs. Weasley, nice to meet you!" Elisa said, hurtling outside, Harry hard on her heels and Ron and Hermione hurrying behind them as fast as their already tired legs would take them.

 Out in the field behind the house Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Ginny were hovering in the air on their brooms, waiting for the others to arrive to play.

 Harry and Elisa had their brooms with them, and mounted up before they'd even stopped running. Harry saw a book under one of the nearby trees, and sure enough, Hermione walked over to it, sat down and started reading.

 Ron swung onto his broom and headed into the air, grinning happily. Fred and George were too busy staring at Elisa to do anything.

 "It seems that they aren't immune to your looks," Harry remarked to his god-sister. "Bit of a pity, that." Elisa punched him in the arm, spun her broom around and sent one of the normal Muggle balls that were substituting for bludgers at the Twins using her broom tale as a bat.

 "They'll get over it," she growled fiercely.

 Harry laughed, and swooped up close to the twins to have a chat with them. "Hey Harry, is that your god-sister? She's _hot," Fred said._

 "She's my sister, I don't think of her that way," Harry pointed out. "And I don't think she appreciates you thinking that way either – haven't you got girlfriends already, anyway?"

 "Sure we do, that doesn't stop us from thinking that she's hot," George told him, grinning. "But we'll keep our awe and appreciation of her looks inside from now on," he added, when Harry's eyes began to narrow slightly.

 Harry grinned suddenly with an exaggerated change of mood. "This is fun! I get to play the protective older brother!" he said, and spiralled off to fly.

 The next few days passed quickly in a flair of fun and amusement, the twins, as they'd promised Harry, didn't look at Elisa again as anything more than a friend, for which both Harry and Elisa were grateful. 

 The day of Harry's birthday dawned bright and sunny. Harry was awake before the rest of the house hold, and headed downstairs to settle in the Living Room while he waited for the rest of the people to come down.

 Ron, Fred and George were the first of the others to come down. "Dammit! You're already up!" the Twins complained, seeing Harry wide awake and watching them with a slightly suspicious air.

 "Why was I supposed to be asleep?" Harry asked in amusement.

 "They wanted to give you a Weasley Family Wake Up," Ron explained. "You aren't missing out on anything, I assure you. At least, nothing Sirius hasn't done before."

 Harry smiled and nodded. "Ah, then I'm just as glad that I missed out. Sirius's wake up calls were bad enough, so I started waking up early, in other words, before he could get up and wake me up."

 Fred and George shrugged – they'd missed on this chance of a prank, but a lot more would opportunities would present themselves. Harry was thinking that it was nearly time to get them back for all of the times they'd _tried_ to prank him this visit – so far he'd foiled every attempt, though most of the time he pretended that he didn't know what was happening.

 They all settled down to wait for the rest of the family to wake up and come down. Percy was going to be there, Harry thought, not sure if this was a good or bad thing. Apparently the Twins had been pranking on him a lot lately, so if Harry threw one in, the suspicions would lie on the twins, not him.

 On the other hand, Harry would still have to put up with his boring speeches – he'd been away so far this visit, out at the Ministry, but he'd been working hard on various reports, and liked to tell his family _exactly_ what they were about, who they were to be given to, and how many people would find the information interesting. Mrs. Weasley was the only person who actually listened, according to the twins. Even _Hermione_ found something else to do.

 Percy never seemed to notice, if you took the twins accounts for correct, and Harry did, in this instance, because what little Hermione had said seemed to point to the same ideas.

 It wasn't much later that Mrs. Weasley came downstairs, all smiles and wishes of a happy birthday to Harry, she immediately headed into the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast. 

 Almost on her tail came Hermione and Elisa, who'd shared a room. Both came over and hugged Harry. "You'll get your presents later, when my parents arrive," Elisa told him.

 It wasn't much longer before the rest of the family was up and about, the first thing any of them did was wish Harry a happy birthday. Harry felt almost confused – his last birthday had been at Seekers Academy, and no one there (except, of course, Sirius) had known it _was_ his birthday. 

 Before then his birthday's had never been made a fuss of – sure, he'd gotten presents, but there had been no one around to actually go through the motions of a 'proper' birthday. 

 It was all a little overwhelming, but Harry was coping well enough for the moment. Sirius and Menolly arrived not long after, just as breakfast was being served. Sirius, sensing his godson's confusion over the events, just rested a friendly hand on his arm in greeting. Harry looked at him and smiled gratefully.

 For breakfast they had delicious pancakes, cereals, toast … everything Harry could think of. He wasn't sure _how Mrs. Weasley had managed to cook it all … but then again, with magic, very little was impossible. _

 After that Harry left the house for a run, knowing that they'd want to get him out of the way to decorate and bring out gifts and such. He was kind of relieved about that, running far and fast, he forgot his discomfort with the things that every other child his age would take for granted.

 It was almost an hour later when Harry returned, not in the least bit sweaty or out of breath, his clothes looking as if he'd just put them on – it had taken a few charms to take care of the clothes and sweat, but nothing particularly difficult.

 Inside he was once more overwhelmed by the new experiences, when everyone cheered and fussed over him, sang 'Happy Birthday' and gave him presents, Harry also realised very quickly that all of the Young Phoenixes and the Order of the Phoenix was there as well, making the amount of presents more than he'd even seen _Dudley_ ever get.

 There were far too many presents to list, but some of them were a complete set of pranks from Fred and George from their almost-formed shop, which would be setting up on Diagon Alley in October, several books on various magics from Hermione that were new releases which Harry hadn't read, a set of Quidditch Balls from Sirius – Black Manor had a set, but they were old and loosing their magic, and locket that had once been his mother's from Menolly.

 After that there was cake, partying, and eventually a fully fledged Quidditch League, since there were so many people. It combined to make one of the best days of Harry's life, if one of the more confusing ones.

 The Young Phoenixes caught up with each other and the ones that had left Hogwarts told the others a little bit about their jobs – most of them had joined the Aurors, until Harry finished his idea with the schools.

 When it was over, Harry felt almost surprised to realise that he would miss it, and wished that it would last longer, but shrugged it off as being part of the 'birthday thing' as he referred to it in his mind.

 Along with Sirius, Menolly and Elisa, Harry left the Burrow that night, promising to come back and visit soon, and definitely before they met up to go to Diagon Alley.

 From the windows of his bedroom, Harry could see the Death Eaters standing guard on the house, probably wondering why Sirius Black and Harry Potter were not coming home … he wondered what Voldemort would be doing about it all, he'd probably be in a right temper.

 Harry was quite right – Voldemort _was in quite a temper about the Manor guard. "You fools!" he shrieked at them, having called them away from the house not an hour after Harry thought of the question himself._

 "Can't you see that they aren't there anymore? They've left, and, like the fools – the utter _idiots – that you are, you stayed guarding an empty house! Imbeciles! Why must _I_ always be the one to think of these things?"_

 Harry, having fallen asleep, watching the exchange and tried hard to keep from laughing. His parents that thought that it might be a good idea to let him see this dream – besides, it was a funny one.

 While Voldemort berated his followers for following the orders that he'd given them, and got the whole story wrong – though obviously he didn't know that – Harry had to laugh.

 Suddenly Harry sensed the presence that he'd become incredibly familiar with in the last weeks, Elisa. He turned around to see her there, eyes wide in her pale face. "Harry? Where are we? Is that Voldemort? What I am doing here … what are you doing here?"

 "You're asleep, Eli. This is a dream, a true dream. We are watching what is actually happening with Voldemort at the moment. I can see it because my scar links me to him, but I'm not sure _what you are doing here," Harry told her. "Do you know how to wake up?"_

 "Do I pinch myself?" She asked doubtfully.

 "No. Um… I'm not sure how to explain this … look, take my hand and we'll go back together," Harry offered, holding out his hands.

 Without a pause, she latched onto his hands, her normal out-goingness and easy courage subdued by the unfamiliar and scary events of the dream.

 Lily and James brought them back, as they'd brought Harry there, since they were guarding his dreams. When he woke up, he was sitting by the window in one of the many living rooms in the Black Manor. Elisa had just sat up on the couch, eyes still surprised.

 Harry looked out the window and saw that the Death Eater guards had disappeared. He wasn't going to put his trust on the fact that Voldemort would leave them be, the Dark Lord could easily decide to bring them back again, but they were gone for the moment.

 "I just had a really odd dream," Elisa remarked, coming to stand by his side and look outside with him.

 "Did it involve me, a man you thought, and I told you, was Voldemort, a load of Death Eaters and me going on about dreams and scars?" Harry asked, slightly amused.

 "How did you know that?"

 "It was a real dream. What I told you, was what actually happened," Harry replied. 

 "Wicked," Elisa remarked, grinning.

 "But do you know how you got there?" Harry asked her, wanting to satisfy his own curiosity, which was eating at him – he'd never seen another person in his dreams, and he'd only ever heard his parents.

 "Um … well, I think it has something to do with another dream I had on my fifteenth birthday, last year," Elisa said, thoughtfully.

********************************************************

I wonder what dream Elisa had … when I figure out what is, I'll write it into the next chapter, wait for beta reader to edit it, and then post it so that you can all read, ok? In the meantime, review and give me some support! *grins*

Thanks To:

Solar, brion, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Rachel A. Prongs, Devony Rose, Rogue1615, Stoney Emerys, SlytherinAtHeart, litine, Destruxion, Lady Prongs, Nacissa Malfoy, Miranda Wecker, laxie_79, princess55, Aensland, fizzlebug49, frostinglolo, Fay Stone, Songbreeze Swifteye, Maxx77, JerseyGirl03, Queen of Redwall, Midnight-Kisses, Tasidia, fantasydima, phoenixrising, mercurygirl, Cataclysmic, grand admiral chelli, Queen of the Jungle, Mandie, Dog Stars Crush,FlyingGoat, Clare, Jordan, Queen of the Jungle, ujstagrl, and Them Girl!

That was 39 reviews! In only two days! Next chapter up soon! And I'm over 500 reviews *looks VERY proud*

~WolfMoon~


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Last Chapter Ending:

"Um … well, I think it has something to do with another dream I had on my fifteenth birthday, last year," Elisa said, thoughtfully.

Chapter Eighteen:

 "It was really weird – I was sleeping, normally, dreaming of nothing in particular, when suddenly whatever it was I was dreaming about – I can't remember what it was now, but it all disappeared. I was in this place that was filled with bright white light.

 "I don't know how, but I could tell that there were presences there, I could almost see their faces – they were smiling at me. They spoke, too, and I can still remember every word they said, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget … I doubt I'd ever want to.

 "They said: Soon your birthright will be upon you, your life has been one meaningless string of information, but it has all been working towards something – when you find him, guard him with your life, as your ancestors guarded his. He holds your life in his hands, and he can do nothing about it. Ask the star what your birthright is, find the Panther and you'll have found Him. Odd huh? I can't figure it out, except that someone – the Panther, holds my life in his hands, and I have to guard him, and that my ancestors guarded his.

 "Well, I know that you're the Panther – dad still calls you that, sometimes, and it's your Animagus form, too, but I have know idea what they meant by 'ask the star'," Elisa said, she seemed thoughtful.

 "I think I do – Sirius, that's the Dog Star, it spoke of your ancestors. I think that it probably meant Sirius's side of the family, since your father was best friends with mine …" Harry said, thinking hard.

 "That's it!" Elisa said, bounding to her feet. "Let's go find dad!"

 "Eli, it's midnight, he'll be sleeping – this can wait till morning, it's waited in your head for months!" Harry said, staring into her eyes, trying to get her to see reason, to calm down.

 She did. "You're right. Shall we just sleep here, or do you want to go up to our rooms?"

 "Going up to the rooms will take too much effort," Harry replied, flopping down on the couch. "I'm too tired to bother with that now." Acting on his words, he closed his eyes, breathing slowing into the depths of sleep.

 Wondering at the ability her god-brother had when it came to falling asleep, Elisa lay down again on the couch and tried to sleep – with everything that was racing through her mind, it was a long time coming, and many a time her train of thought was interrupted by a stab of envy that Harry had gone to sleep in seconds despite all this upheaval that must be in his mind as well.

 Maybe it was something that they taught at Seekers Academy? With that one, last thought, Elisa drifted into the welcome arms of sleep.

 Harry woke up as the sun sent its first tendrils of light over the horizon, striking his eyes, forcing him to cover them and blink away the spots so that he could see again.

 He allowed himself to relish in the act of waking up and stretching for a moment, then stood up, glanced over at Elisa, who was still sleeping. Much as he was tempted to shake her awake and go and jump on Sirius's bed like a four year old on his birthday, Harry went outside for a run, letting all of his thoughts flow away in the easy, continual pumping of his legs.

 When he returned the sun was somewhat higher in the sky, and Elisa was just stirring as he entered the room. "Harry?" She asked sleepily, without opening her eyes, as the sun was still in them.

 Harry obligingly moved to stand between her and the sun, causing a shadow to be cast over her face. "Yeah, it's me. Wanna go and see if Sirius is up yet? He should be by now, since I heard Menolly moving in the kitchen on my way in."

 "You were out?" She asked him sleepily, standing up and stretching with a smooth, feline grace. 

 "Yeah, for a run, I just got back," Harry replied, as he headed out of the room. 

 "Wow," Elisa muttered, still waking up. "I don't know how you do that." They walked on in silence, though a companionable one, until they reached Sirius's room.

 The man in question was still half asleep when his two children opened the door and walked into the room, the expressions on their faces were serious, and that did not look promising.

 "If you have something serious to discuss, it's too early in the morning," Sirius told them.

 "You've gotten out of habit," Harry told him sternly. "You should be up and training already … the suns been up for an hour man!"

 Sirius mocked scowled. "Fine, I'll start getting up early tomorrow. Today, however, is still today," he remarked coolly.

 "Too bad," Elisa told him, grinning wickedly.

 "Why do I feel that we are doing to have a deep and meaningful conversation before I've even properly woken up?" Sirius asked, apparently addressing the ceiling of his room.

 "I don't think that the roof can answer that question," Harry told him practically. "So I guess I'll have to do so for it."

 He sat down on the bed and he and Elisa told Sirius of what they'd been discussing the night before. Sirius looked wide awake now, and didn't interrupt once.

 When they'd finished, Sirius's expression was serious, and when he spoke he made no jokes, nor did he complain about little things that weren't going to change like he usually did.

 "The dream refers to something that has been going on between the Potter and Black family's way back into the mists of time, so far back that no one knows quite how long it's actually been around.

 "The only thing we know is that one of my ancestors was friends with one of yours, Harry, and one day found him lying, half dead from grievous wounds from a fight.

 "My ancestor was sorely grieved, for he loved the other man as the brother that he'd never had, and hated to see him lying helpless, almost killed by dark wizards that had been plaguing the ancient world – I think that was before Avada Kedavra was created.

 "Anyway, he'd heard of an ancient spell, one that went back beyond _his_ memory and one that is lost to all bar our families today. He took a dagger and opened a cut in his own arm, severing a main vein, and held it over Potter (it was a different name then, but since no one knows what it was, Potter will do as well as any) Potter allowed the blood to touch his lips, and swallowed, not knowing what he was doing.

 "At the same time, Black (again, not his name, but it's unknown as well) swore that by the blood that now linked them, he'd always be there to help his friend, and that every one of his descendants would do the same.

 "The blood that he gave to Potter worked miracles, for the life blood, freely given, is one of the most potent magics … I think that's part of the reason that Voldemort used your blood to come back, although because it was enemy blood, forcibly taken, it was different, but had a better effect than a friends blood would.

 "Anyway, that blood saved Potter's life, and since then one of the Blacks is _always_ born within a year of a Potter, and they link up. That binding oath comes into play when the youngest of the pair turns sixteen, but somehow, it's different this time … I don't know why, but it is. Maybe urgency is making it happen faster.

 "Since this is already happening, you'll have to swear the oath – it's renewed every generation, and the power in it now is something astronomical.

 "The oath has changed a little over the time, apparently. Now we swear on the blood that we share that no Black will ever betray a Potter, that a Black will, whenever possible, shed blood before a Potter, and die before a Potter.

 "That's one of the other reasons why I could not have been the Secret Keeper for you parents – I'd never have been able to think of betraying them to Voldemort except in jest, and if I ever did anything to act on those jests, the magical energy that's built up would have bounced back on me and destroyed me completely."

 Harry and Elisa were staring at Sirius in a quiet awe.

 "So you've got quite a reputation to live up to, Elisa, and you too, Harry. The only reason I still live is that a Potter lives still, and while the Potter line lives on, so does the Black. With the death of the last Potter, all the Blacks will die," he finished.

 Elisa and Harry looked at one another in surprise.

 "The ceremony has simplified as well, there's no need to go severing a main vein any more, just a pinprick of blood from both, and have the wounds touch, then swear the oath and you're bound for life," Sirius continued. "And Harry, you must swear, after Elisa has, never to betray the trust that she's put into, and always remain loyal to your cause, never to lay down your life for a foolish reason, for it could kill you both.

 "The only reason James's death didn't kill me was that he made me promise – swear by the blood bond – that if anything happened to him, I'd take care of you, and Lily, if she lived as well. Remember that Harry, you don't just stay alive for yourself anymore, or you will not, once you both swear the oath, and I think that we'd best get that over and done with as quick as possible, given the circumstances … tonight the moon is full, we'll do it then. I've got to talk to Menolly about it anyway. 

 "Now, off you go, you two, I'm sure you've got some homework to do, especially you, Eli, since you have all of that catch up work that Albus was kind enough to give you!" Sirius shooed them from his room so that he could get up and changed in peace and quiet.

 "Wow," Elisa remarked, walking down the corridors with Harry. "I thought something weird was going on with that dream, and the one that we had last night, but I didn't think that it'd be _that weird."_

 "Neither," Harry added truthfully. "Come on, Syr was right about one thing, you've got a lot of work to do, starting with memorizing those ancient ruins!"

 Elisa had chosen the same elective subjects as Harry had, Care of Magic Creatures and Ancient Ruins (A/N: was there a third? I can't remember it ever being mentioned …), so he could help her with that homework, and with that from the 'normal' subjects.

 Harry still had to finish the last parts of his holiday homework – he had laughed when he saw Snape's essay, it referred to a Potion that was not even taught in schools, hoping that Harry wouldn't be able to get it. He'd finished it in one day, including making a sample of the Potion to make sure that he could make it properly.

 It may not be taught in wizarding schools, but that by no means meant that it wouldn't be taught in the Seekers Academy. Besides, with the library that Harry had at his disposal, finding information on a Potion was as easy as breathing.

 Elisa's work, because it was given to her by Dumbledore rather than Snape, was fairly easy, as was the rest of her holiday homework – the week before school went back, Dumbledore was going to have her set the O.W.L's for her subjects, just to make sure.

 Elisa was nervous about that, and Harry was helping her learn spells, memorize Ruins, make Potions and many other things, though Dumbledore had already warned them that the test would be slightly different from the test that Harry had done, because they didn't want her cheating.

 Elisa wouldn't have cheated anyway; she wasn't that sort of person. She worked hard to achieve what she wanted, and this was no exception.

 Today, though, they were both distracted by what Sirius had told them, and so learning anything was proving a bit of a challenge, and they eventually gave up. "We can do extra tomorrow, that'll make up for what we've lost today," Elisa said, standing up. "Wanna go for a fly?"

 Harry was on his feet in seconds and the pair of them were out of the library and racing along the corridor, like, although they didn't know it, Sirius and James had, in times past.

 All through the day, no one mentioned what was going to happen that night, no one knew why, but they just didn't. The night seemed to crawl along, and as soon as it was fully dark, Sirius led Harry and Elisa outside.

 Out in the darkness both Harry and Elisa were shivering slightly, because it was already August, and winter wasn't too far away. No one carried a light, though they all had there wands, Sirius had told them not to light them.

 The moon hadn't risen yet, but it would soon, and when it did, they were performing the ceremony. Both Harry and Elisa were somewhat scared, but they knew that Sirius would do nothing to hurt them.

 Finally the moon had risen, and the ceremony could begin.

 Sirius took out a small knife with a sharp point, he gently pricked Elisa's finger so that it bled slightly, a bead of red glowing faintly in the moonlight.

 He then repeated the prick on Harry's finger, Harry didn't flinch, hardly even felt the prick, he'd gotten far worse in training sessions. Then they both reached out and touched the tips of their fingers so that the blood mixed.

 Sirius was speaking in a different language. Harry listened hard, but he couldn't understand it, the words fell into something like a chant, and finally Sirius yelled one last word, and then, for a moment, there was silence.

 When Sirius spoke next, he again used a different language, but this time they could understand him. He asked Elisa to swear the oath that he had spoken of that morning, and she swore.

 Then he turned to Harry, but said nothing, Harry already knew what to do. He spoke his oath, at the same time accepting Elisa's one, and as he spoke golden light began to gather around them, he could sense the power of great wandless magic, greater than any he'd felt before, as it had built up so much over the ages.

 The gold grew brighter and brighter, and then, as Harry spoke his last word, it flared and was gone, leaving them blinking in the darkness.

 'Freaky,' a voice, Elisa's, spoke, but in his mind, not in his ears.

 'Hey, I can hear what you were thinking!' Harry thought back at her, laughing.

 "Did you just say something?" Elisa asked him aloud.

 "No, I was speaking to you mind-to-mind," Harry replied, grinning, then turned to Sirius, "did this happen to you and James, because you didn't mention it when you were telling us about it?" he asked his godfather.

 Sirius was looking slightly shaken. "No … and the golden light didn't either," he said, "I don't know what's happening – this is completely different from anything that's happened over the last millennium and longer, I've _never_ heard of any differences in the ceremony ever occurring, and now three have happened at once."

 Harry nodded. "I had a feeling that might be it." 'Mum, dad, do you know what might have caused this?' he asked in his mind, careful to block anyone from hearing those thoughts, though he couldn't isolate her exactly, he didn't want Elisa hearing him thinking to his parents.

 'There might be something … there are tests … tell Sirius that it's what we – that is, James and I – thought might be the case. Everything that's happened so far points to that, and this just makes it even more likely,' Lily told him.

 Completely mystified, Harry obeyed. Sirius looked at him oddly. "I don't know how you could know of that, unless you are indeed what we thought," he said after a moment. "But that is a tale for another time, kid, it's dangerous for you to learn to early … I'll tell you when I can, I promise you that," he said.

 "Great, more mysteries," Harry grumbled, but only half-heartedly. "Oh well, if I have to wait, then I will, even if it would be nice to get a proper explanation for this stuff …"

 "I'd like one of them too," Elisa remarked. "What are we supposed to do until then?" She added to Sirius.

 "The only thing you can do – perform the duty that was given to you by your ancestors. From what happened last night, I'd say that you can guard Harry's dreams, so that he is safe from dark forces even while he sleeps – don't worry, it won't impact at all on your own sleep, you'll still get the rest that you need unless you both have to fight something … I'll give you a book in the morning that explains all this, I'm afraid I'm not the best of teachers," Sirius replied after a moment. 

 "That makes no sense whatsoever," Elisa remarked, shaking her head. "But then, nothing has made much sense since we came to England … or maybe it was meeting _you_," she pointed at Harry.

 "Probably meeting me," Harry grinned. "I have that effect on people and events sometimes, more so now than ever before." Elisa gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

 "We can talk in the morning, kids," Sirius said, "I need sleep."

 "Oh, stop being such an adult!" Harry said with a grin – Sirius hated being likened to adults, since he held a rather clichéd idea of them, thinking them to be people who existed solely to stop pranks, give out detentions and so on.

 He knew that it was unformed and stupid, of course, but he loved being able to explode about things like being called an 'adult' or a 'grown-up' just because he could act childishly.

 And, as Harry had known, his godfather chased him in dog form all the way to Harry's bedroom, leaving Elisa to race after them, since she had no Animagus form of her own.

 'Remind me to get you to teach me how to become one,' she thought-growled to Harry. 'This will get annoying if happens often.'

 'Will do, oh honoured protector,' Harry sent back sleepily, and flopped onto his bed. 'I think I like being able to talk to you, it makes after bed-time conversations far easier.'

 He could sense her laughter. 'I'm really worn out,' she remarked to him. 'That ceremony took out of me like nothing I've ever felt before.'

 'That's because it was magically draining as well as physically so,' Harry told her. 'Don't worry, you'll feel better after a good nights sleep and some good meals tomorrow. It drained me too … I think it must be something to do with the ceremony, that it drains me more than it does you, because my magic can handle it … that's probably why there was the golden light … although I could be wrong on that – I'm in the dark as much as you are.'

 'Let's sleep then,' Elisa said, and Harry could sense her weariness fading away into sleep, before he followed the example. The questions that he'd wanted to ask his parents before he slept while there was no chance of Elisa overhearing were forgotten. 

 Harry smiled as he slept, the first time he'd done so in longer than he could remember, he felt safer now than he ever had before, with Elisa joined to him by their ancestors pledge, he could feel the difference that they shared. He had no idea how much that difference would mean in the upcoming battles to keep back the dark.

 Morning was well underway by the time Harry woke, and for a while he simply lay dozing on the bed, knowing that he should have been up hours ago, and for once not caring enough to move.

 He'd not been awake long when he felt that Elisa had woken too, and they talked for a while, mind to mind so that they didn't have to extend the effort of moving together and talking normally.

 Finally hunger forced them out of their beds and downstairs to eat. Menolly and Sirius were nowhere to be seen, but neither of the two teenagers particularly cared.

 Raiding the fridge, they ate a large meal before going outside to lounge in the sun. Sirius found them there not much later, though by that time they had once more fallen into the arms of sleep.

 He smiled faintly and left two books lying beside them, for when they woke again. 

 It was afternoon by the time they did, and when they headed inside, books held in hands, though unopened, because the thought of reading them and actually _comprehending _what was written would be a near-impossibility in their current state, they found Menolly and Sirius in the kitchen, with a meal laid out with four places at the table.

 "I thought that you might be awake by now," Sirius told them with a grin, "you'd best eat – we saw the remainders of your brunch earlier, and you were obviously pretty hungry."

 Harry and Elisa fell on the food, suddenly ravenous, before Sirius sent them to bed, not sure if they'd be able to reach it in their current state – his fears proved unjustified … but only by a very narrow margin.

 Neither of them even had the energy to undress themselves, and fell onto the beds, fully clothed, asleep before they hit the beds. A while later Menolly appeared to put them under the blankets and cover them up gently. Neither one so much as stirred when this happened, but Sirius said they would be alright the next morning, and she believed him – she knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to the two children.

 And Sirius turned out to be right – when they woke in the morning both felt right as rain, although Elisa was a little peeved because she'd woken up earlier than she was used to.

 Since no one else was up they both settled and read the books that Sirius had left them, detailing the notes taken by various Potters and Blacks from the eons that had passed before them.

 They learned many interesting things, 'it says here that if you get _badly_ hurt, I'll feel it like I was hurt, even though I'll have not a mark on me, and if you die it'll kill me too, unless you gave me some task to complete after you'd died, as your father gave mine,' Elisa remarked once.

 'Sirius mentioned something like that … this is confusing, there are so many chances, so many guesses … but no one's been able to find out much for sure, we are pretty much stumbling around in the dark, and I don't like it – there are _way_ too many places for abysses to turn up for us to fall into …' Harry thought back. 

 'There are some lights though, Harry. We'll be fine, I'm sure of it. At least until we can find out for certain, and from what you've told me, the best place to do that is in Atlantis …' Elisa said.

 'Yeah. I don't know when we should go there, though. Not now, I don't think … we need to wait and let some of the questions accumulate, so that we don't need to make another trip back a few weeks later – there are only two more visits that we can make, and we don't dare waste them,' Harry thought, frustrated.

 They didn't get the chance to meet up with Ron and Hermione before August the twentieth, when they met up in Diagon Alley, so there was not going to be a chance to tell them about the events of the holidays until school went back.

 Sirius, Lily and James were being very stubborn and not saying anything about what they'd meant by their 'explanation' of what had happened that night.

 Elisa had found out about his parents, despite Harry's best efforts to prevent it – he didn't know why he wanted to keep them from her, since she wouldn't think that he was mad, but he had. 

 Elisa was delighted by the prospect of talking to the woman who would have been her godmother, and the man who would have been her godfather, if Voldemort hadn't been around.

 They'd worked out ways to keep their lives separate even though their minds were linked in many ways, because they both loved their privacy. 

 Finally the twentieth came around and both Harry and Elisa were looking forward to meeting Hermione and the Weasley's again – Elisa loved the family as much as Harry did.

 Finally the day came around; Sirius and Menolly were both woken by a pair of all-to-eager teenagers early in the morning. "I'm glad that I bypassed the younger kid stage of both their lives," Sirius grumbled.

 Menolly punched him in the shoulder and went off to make breakfast. "What happened to getting up early?" Harry demanded, scowling at his godfather. "You'd been doing so well!"

 "I was having a sleep in because Menolly keeps threatening to kill me if I keep waking her up early," Sirius replied loftily. Harry laughed and headed off to breakfast.

 'Harry, can we go and practice the Animagus stuff when mum and dad get ready?' Elisa asked. Harry had been training her so that she'd be able to get around as fast as he could; she had also lost her American accent very quickly, in the company of the Britains in her family.

 'Sure,' he told her, since Menolly would take some time to get ready, and Sirius would also, because Menolly would insist that he wear clothes that went with each other, and with Sirius, finding _clean clothing that went together was always difficult._

 Harry and Elisa were dressed very quickly. Once again Harry was wearing 'normal' clothes so that he wouldn't attract attention, to either himself or Menolly and Elisa. He didn't want to put them in the spotlight for the moment, and Sirius was doing the same.

 He settled, with Elisa's help, for loose blue jeans and a black t-shirt, since they'd be going through Muggle London, and they had to blend in then as well. Elisa was wearing flared stretch jeans and a sparkling black t-shirt with 'I'm Cute. Sue me,' which she'd had since she'd been in America.

 They met up in Harry's room, because it was better suited to the training they were doing. Elisa was having an easier time of it than Harry had, because Harry could help her by sharing some of his magics with her – they'd discovered that a short time before and it was proving very useful.

 "You'll easily be able to change before Christmas … in the first month of school, probably," Harry told her. "This will be good, because you can help me with Ron and Hermione."

 Elisa laughed happily. "Then we can _really be Marauders," she said. "We'll have to think up nicknames too … you can't just stay Panther, we'll have to think up something better than that," she added thoughtfully. _

 "Come on, sounds like everyone's ready to go," Harry said a moment later, standing up and heading downstairs. They'd loaded everything into the car already.

 Sirius and Menolly were also ready now, Sirius actually looked presentable, which seemed kind of odd still, even though Harry had seen him this way on several other occasions.

 They all went to the fire place and took out of the Floo powder. Harry went first, and then Sirius, they moved away to allow Menolly and Elisa to come through.

 They were going to keep a little ways apart, just in case there were people who might target companions of Harry and Sirius – both of them were capable of defending themselves against any sort of attack, but they didn't want to put anyone else at risk.

 Ron and Hermione joined Harry and Sirius when they came through into the crowded street. "We don't know Eli," Harry muttered. "We are going to meet up in Flourish Blott's, we can have a conversation there, but Eli and Menolly have to go get everything that they need for school, including robes and such."

 "Ok, let's go then!"

 An hour later everyone made their way to the bookshop, where Harry, Ron, Elisa and Hermione had a chance for a short conversation, but they saved most things up for on the train.

 "Wish we could talk more, but we don't dare speak openly around here, who knows who's listening," Hermione said, when Mrs. Weasley called out that it was time to go.

 Harry and Elisa nodded, and everyone parted ways again. 'Oh well, it won't be too long before we see them again, thank Merlin.'

 'Yeah,' Elisa replied, and went to join Menolly while Harry returned to Sirius with the books that he needed.

 The next eleven days went fast, and Harry and Elisa spent as much time as possible working on the Animagus transformation spell. Harry knew that Elisa wouldn't get to the end of the preparation for the spell before the end of the holidays, but it wouldn't long before she was able to transform.

 When September the first arrived, Harry and Elisa were practicing in Harry's room in the early morning before the adults were awake. "I wish we could have finished this before the end of the holidays," Elisa remarked with a sigh.

 "So do I, but we can't, so we'll just get as far as is possible," Harry said, shrugging. "Come on, let's go and make some breakfast, I want to get to the station, and sitting around here isn't going to make it happen faster."

 They'd both already packed and repacked their trunks three times in the night before, made a few check-lists and skim-read half of the books.

 Elisa welcomed the idea; it would take her mind of her nerves at the thought of going to a new school. She wasn't worried about the work itself, she'd passed the O.W.L.'s with flying colours (she got in the top fifteen of the year), a few weeks ago.

 Just as they finished Sirius bounded downstairs, Menolly was probably making sure his clothes were at least slightly clean, and getting dressed herself.

 Sirius wasn't wearing his Seekers Robes yet, both he and Harry would change on the train so as not to make an appearance with the Muggles watching – there would be plenty of things to do once they got onto the Platform.

 Elisa and Harry shared identical grins of pure mischievousness as they entered the car, they knew that Menolly was going to go back to the Ministry to re-join the Aurors, which is what she had been before Sirius was arrested and she left for the states.

 The Ministry had offered her job back, since she'd neither been fired nor quit, she'd just up and left, so technically she was still employed, which had made the teenagers asked if she had gotten paid all that time, to which she replied no. "Bummer," Elisa had said when she learnt that.

 There was a little bit of a fuss getting out when Menolly refused to let Sirius drive, "I don't want to have an accident, attract the attention of Muggle police, or get lost, therefore _I am driving!" She informed him._

 The argument continued full scale all the two hour drive to the train station, Harry made the car invisible as they went through the gates, as well as putting a soundless charm on it, just in case the Death Eaters were still there.

 No one inside of the car noticed, because of the argument going on in the front, and Harry didn't see any reason to tell them, either. He kept a look out for the Death Eaters, but saw none … that didn't mean that they weren't there, of course, but it was most likely that they weren't.

 'Eli, want to plan some pranks?' He asked her, once they got onto the highway, because the argument was over and Sirius and Menolly were talking of the 'good old days' although they didn't call them that.

 'Sure. I've only heard what you, Hermione and the Weasley's have to say about Snape, but he doesn't sound like a nice guy … I've heard dad talk about him too, sometimes, and he _really hates our Potions teacher.'_

 'Sure he does, and with good reason,' Harry hadn't told her about his first meeting with the human Sirius Black, and did so now. She knew of all of Sirius's previous grievances, but not this one.

 'Oooh, I _hate_ him too now!' Elisa hissed in Harry's mind when he finished the tale. 'Let's see, what can we do to Snape …'

 The rest of the long journey was spent discussing various tortures for the Potions teacher – Harry could almost feel sorry for the man, if he didn't dislike him as much as he did.

 "Nearly there," Sirius remarked. "You guys have been quiet back there, did you fall asleep or sometime?" he added, twisting around in his seat to see what the two teenagers were doing.

 Both looked at him calmly. "Of course not, we were talking mind-to-mind," Harry told him. "We didn't want to disturb you."

 "Ah, that makes a certain sense," Sirius said, _You don't fool me, you were talking about pranks and didn't want a teacher to hear you_, he added, using their sign language. 

 Harry inclined his slightly. _As a teacher, you'd have been forced to stop us, if you heard someone discussing pranks to play, he signalled back._

 _I know. Pity. Oh well, that'll be make it a surprise! _Sirius signalled. Then spoke aloud. "You too bring your trunks, and I'll bring mine," he said. "I'm not about to carry yours as well."

 Harry performed a feather-weight charm on both his and Elisa's trunks, but didn't do the same for Sirius, in slight revenge for the remark, even though he didn't really mind it at all.

 They made it onto the platform easily, but Elisa was caught in a group of people and tugged away from Harry. 'Don't worry about it, get on the train and I'll find you there, and bring you back to say goodbye to Menolly and Sirius,' Harry told her.

 'Right Harry. I'll see if I can find Ron and Hermione too!' Elisa sent back, and Harry relayed what had happened to his godparents. "Right, that's fine," Sirius said. "Let's find the Weasley's, and then you can head up to the Prefects compartment."

*Elisa's POV*

 Caught up in the gaggle of students, Elisa fought her way through to try and get some breathing room; she nearly tripped several times, but eventually succeeded in getting her trunk and herself out of the mob, thanking her god brother for making it light and easier to move.

 She was uncomfortable here – there were a lot of guys around, and they were all looking at her. Sometimes she wished she'd been ugly. Suddenly one of them, a slick blond with cruel eyes and a sharp face came over.

 His clothes were beaurocratic and his smile, while it looked like an attempt to be friendly, was scary. "Hello, are you new?" He asked her, and at her nod continued, "what year are you in?"  
 "Sixth," she told, thinking up ways to back away without being impolite.

 "What a co-incidence. I'm a sixth year too, I hope you'll be in Slytherin – it's _obviously_ the best house, even though we haven't won the house cup since that git Potter came," Elisa felt anger rising in his mind, she was about ready to _kill this boy, whoever he was._

 "My names Draco Malfoy, by the way, maybe we can be friends?" he looked at her, with a delicately arched eyebrow and an infuriating sneer on his lips.

 She knew him now, the one that had always hated Harry. Looking over him again, the wind blew his cloak out of the way, and she was a badge pinned to his shirt with 'Potter Stinks' written on it.

 He saw where she was looking. "Cool huh? I made it two years ago when Potter somehow sneaked his name into the Goblet of Fire."

 Elisa had been yelling for Harry to get his arse over here and do something about Malfoy – before she did. At that moment he burst from the crowd behind her, and sprang neatly to her side.

 Resting a hand on her shoulder, Harry turned to Malfoy. "Have you ever thought that she might not be interested in any of this, Malfoy?" he asked the Slytherin boy coolly.

 "Who asked you Potter?" Malfoy sneered back at him.

 "She did actually. My god-sister has been politely attempting to refrain from killing you since you started talking to her," Harry replied, eyes cold.

 "Your sister?" Malfoy stared at Elisa in surprise.

 "God-sister, moron. I'm Sirius Black's daughter, and the Black's have always been friends of the Potter's, and if not always enemies of the Malfoys, never friends. Your family has always been dark; mine has been dedicated to fighting the dark for as long as anyone can remember. If I ever hear you insult Harry or my father or my house, for that matter – I've already been sorted into Gryffindor – you are going to get it real bad, got that?"

 He was staring at her, but without giving him a chance to respond, she turned and marched off, Harry striding easily at her side. "I see why you hate him," Elisa told Harry, her eyes still snapping in anger.

 "Calm down, Eli. It doesn't do any good to have too much anger in your mind. I'm here now, and you're with friends, we'll get Malfoy back when we have a really good prank, until then, just try and ignore him, if you can," Harry told her, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder again.

 'I'll try, but I think that it was something to do with the ceremony, he insulted you and it became even harder to keep from killing him,' Elisa told him.

 'I'm sorry, I should've thought of that. We'll just have to keep you away from him as much as possible then,' Harry said. She smiled at him.

 'Thanks bro,' she told him. "Hey look! There they are!" Sirius, Menolly, Hermione and the Weasley's were all grouped together waiting for them arrive.

 "Harry! Eli!" Hermione and Ron rushed over – they and Ginny where the only Weasley children present, which seemed almost odd. Percy was obviously at work, and Harry supposed that the twins were busy setting up their shop on Diagon Alley.

 Harry and Elisa bounded forward to greet their friends happily. "How have you been?" Elisa asked.

 "We'll talk on the train, we have to say goodbye now," Hermione said, hugging her. Elisa nodded and they joined the adults.

 Menolly hugged her daughter. "Watch your father, make sure he doesn't get in _too_ much trouble, and owl me if does anything really funny," she told her.

 "Sure mum," Elisa said, hugging back and rolling her eyes.

 After saying goodbye to all of the adults minus Sirius, who would be Apparating to Hogsmeade and going to Hogwarts that way, they boarded the train and made their way up to the Prefect compartments. Even though Elisa wasn't a Prefect, she could come into the compartment because she'd been invited by the Prefects.

 "So what's been happening?" Hermione asked, Harry cast a charm to make sure no one could over hear them, and they settled down with the Prefects, minus Pansy Parkinson. 

 Blaise Zabini had been a Prefect, so they could all talk together now without it looking odd. Pansy was off with Draco Malfoy somewhere, so she wasn't likely to come in any time soon. 

 Just in case, Zabani sat a little way away from everyone else with an open book in her lap, so she could make it seem like she was just reading and seated in the same compartment should any of her house mates come looking for her.

 The Young Phoenixes who were present were happy to greet Elisa and made her feel like on of the group, because they hadn't had much of a chance at Harry's birthday party, and were amazed to find out the role that she played in her god-brothers life.

 "Wow! You can talk mind-to-mind … that's _amazing!" Hermione exclaimed when she found out. The others were just as surprised, although they didn't have quite as good idea of how rare it was as Hermione did._

 Harry cast a wandless charm that wouldn't let them speak of anything about the occurrence to anyone outside of the Young Phoenixes, it wasn't that he didn't trust them, but he had been trained to be suspicious, and it was easy to let a wrong word slip somewhere.

 They'd been on the tracks for almost an hour when there was a sudden flash of light and an explosion that made the whole train shudder and stop.

********************************************************

Haha! Cliffies! Don't you just love them?? *grins* Review and I'll tell you what happened!

Haha! Cliffies! Don't you just love them?? *grins* Review and I'll tell you what happened!

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36 reviews! Thanks guys! They are much appreciated! I have 555 reviews now! *celebrates* can we try to get REALLY close to 600 this time? It's only 45 reviews!! *looks pleadingly at reviewers* and I left a nice cliffie to encourage some reponse from you!! REVIEW!!

~WolfMoon~

Oh and the pairings in this story are: Ron/Hermione, Sirius/Menolly and Harry/OC (NOT Elisa!!) but I'm not telling you who the mystery girl is! And it IS a girl, I'm not a slash fan! I have yet to decide who Elisa will be with, if anyone. BTW, there will be NO intimate scenes between characters! I'm not much of a romance writer and I'm only having pairings here because they fit in with the story!


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Last Chapter Ending:

They'd been on the tracks for almost an hour when there was a sudden flash of light and an explosion that made the whole train shudder and stop.

Chapter Nineteen:

 Harry was on his feet immediately, he could vaguely hear the screams of the other students, and his ears were ringing with the yells of his fellow prefects.

 "Quiet for a moment, please," he said softly, and they all quietened immediately. He went over to his trunk and opened Hedwig's cage. He was glad that he'd sent the phoenix along with Sirius; it looked like there was a fight coming up.

 "Now, I'm going to go and look and see what I can find out there. I'll be in contact with Eli, and the moment I tell you to, write a note to Sirius and send it with Hedwig, I've already cast a spell that will render her invisible the moment she flies out that window," he pointed on out without pausing his rapid speech.

 "Once you've done that, send someone to find the other Young Phoenixes and get out front and centre to help me keep them away from the train, have your wands ready … maybe ask all of the older students to come as well, just in case we need some back up, ok?"

 "Got it Harry!" Came the response from everyone. Immediately Harry cast an invisibility charm over himself and ducked into the next cart up, and then further on, making his way to the front of the train.

 It was only three carts away, but Harry went slowly and quietly, making sure that no one was in the room in front of him before he actually entered it himself.

 What felt like a life time for him – about five minutes – was all it took to reach the front of the train. The moment he entered the driver's compartment, his nose was filled with the stench of fresh blood.

 Both the driver and the old witch who managed the food trolley were dead, their killers must have jumped in just after the explosion, for they'd definitely been killed.

 Harry recognized the method of killing too, and what he realised made him feel quite scared. 'Elisa! Write to Sirius, tell him there were Seekers here! The driver and the witch with food trolley are both dead and I'm pretty sure that it was Death Eaters who where there. Get the students ready to defend themselves, the attacks will probably come along the whole length of the train – have groups of older students guard the younger ones and get them to keep an eye on Slytherins! I'm going outside to see what I can find out about numbers!'

 'Everything's being done. Me and the  Prefects are all going along the train, do you want anyone to come out and help you?'

 'No, I don't need help, yet, but if I do, I'll tell you immediately. I know you should be out here with me, but you aren't used to sneaking around, or fighting if I have to,' Harry told her.

 'I know. I'm more useful where I am. Me, Ron, and Hermione have some of the new first years with us, and we are trying to get more of them into a larger group and get more people to help us defend them – we're in the middle of the train,' Elisa replied.

 'I just hope Hedwig can get to Sirius and fast,' Harry remarked softly. 'I don't know how long we can hold out, or how well. Try and get as many people as possible into one space – get one of the Seventh years to make it big for you.'

 'Right! Good idea! I'll do that right away – and be careful Harry!' Elisa told him, then he was moving towards the trees – it was a forest, so it was very likely that many 'enemies' were hiding out there.

 Being very careful not to make a sound, Harry slipped through the forest to see what he could find. It didn't take him long to reach a Death Eater standing guard.

 A quick scout around the area revealed that he was the only one within sight. Harry stunned him with a Wandless and invisible charm, catching the man before he could hit the ground and extending his invisibility to cover the Death Eater as well.

 Then he hurried back to the train. 'Eli, open the door, I'm outside and I have an unconscious Death Eater with me,' he sent to his god-sister.

 A moment later the door edged a little way open, not enough to attract attention, and continued opening until Harry could slip inside, dragging his burden behind him.

 He took off the invisibility charm and waved his hand over the Death Eaters face. "What are you doing?" Hermione asked him, watching almost nervously.

 "Casting a truth spell, I can't tell you how I do it though," Harry replied softly. "Everyone, please be quiet, noise helps create panic and stops people who are trying to help you from being able to talk to you properly," he pitched his voice just high enough for everyone to hear him when he said this, and everyone immediately calmed down.

 Harry paused to take a look around renovated compartment. It was now a good deal larger, though he knew it hadn't changed on the outside, and had seats so that everyone who wanted to sit down could.

 The first years huddled in the middle of floor looking petrified, and the rest of the people organised themselves into groups, some where house groups and year groups, but the Young Phoenixes stood in a loose circle around the younger students, obviously ready to protect them at need.

 In the sudden silence, Harry looked around carefully, marking every face. "You first years – you are frightened, you don't know what's happening, or what you can do to help, am I right?" They nodded. "Even those of you who come from magical families most likely wouldn't be able to work large magics, if there are any of you who know enough that you think you could be a good help, please come over here."

 No one stood, though almost everyone fidgeted as if embarrassed. Harry smiled reassuringly at them. "That's ok – I wasn't expecting much of a response to that one anyone – most of the second and some of third years won't be able to help much either, so don't dismiss yourselves as useless," he said. "Since you can't help in the more obvious ways, I'm asking you to help in another. I want you to be quiet and do what the older students ask you to, so that we can keep you safe.

 "We are _not_ trying to fight off the full brunt of a Death Eater attack. We are only trying to hold out as long as possible. My friends and I have already sent for help from Hogwarts, who'll contact the Ministry of Magic so that we'll be rescued by them. For now we are concentrating on defence.

 "I'm going to find out what I can from this Death Eater here, hopefully he'll have an estimate of how many people are around us, and what their positions and orders are."

 Harry delivered this is a calming, but firmly commanding voice that made everyone feel safe and protected, and all of the first years watched him with admiration.

 "If you need help, ask one of the people with Prefect badges on – can all of the Prefects please raise their hands –" the Prefects did so. "They'll all do their best to help you. If you see anyone approaching the train, sing out for one of them to see if they are friends or enemies," Harry finished, before walking over to a corner, his prisoner with him and using his 'wand' to create soundless shields around them.

 "Harry's just doing that so as not alarm you by anything the Death Eater says, it's likely to be not nice, and a lot of it won't be related to this attack anyone," Elisa explained. Her voice was like Harry's, and everyone's attentions focussed on her now.

 "Could all of the Seventh and Sixth years please go the windows, cast spells on them so that we can see through but no one else can see in, and keep an eye out for Death Eaters or Seekers – Harry thinks that some of the Seekers might have joined with Voldemort, since a lot of them are criminals with no love of the light side," she added.

 She was rather surprised when everyone did as she'd asked.

 Behind his soundproof wall, Harry awoke the Death Eater, keeping a firm hold on several spells he was using to keep the man from escaping, attempting to harm him or lying.

 When he woke, the man found that he could not move, the air around him to have solidified. "You can't escape, Death Eater, and you will answer my questions," Harry told him coolly.

 The Death Eater pulled lips away from his teeth in a soundless snarl, but didn't speak. "How many are there of you, and what?" Harry asked him coolly.

 The Death Eater opened his mouth, undoubtedly to say that he wouldn't answer, but to the mans horror, he blurted out the information that Harry had requestion. "There are fifty Death Eater, one hundred Dementors and five giants who came over to us despite what they're elders decided."

 Harry smiled. "There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, where are they positioned?" He wondered if it was the command in his voice, or the fact that the Death Eater would have been used to anything that resembled someone in control that made the man answer, telling Harry everything, the positions of the forces and their plans.

 "My thanks, Death Eater. I will see what I can do about getting you pardoned from a death sentence for the information that you've provided me with," he said. "But I have one last question that I want you to answer of your own free will. If you do not, it does not matter, I do not _need_ the information anyway. That question is: What was the aim of the attack?"

 The man considered him for a moment, then smiled suddenly. "I joined the Death Eaters on a dare more than anything else," he told Harry. "I didn't want to tell you anything because I thought that I'd be killed anyway, but I know that you'll hold to your word. The aim of the attack was mostly to show the Wizarding World that we were completely ruthless and that nothing could stop us, but also to deprive the Light side of it's future warriors."  
 "My thanks, man. I'm going to leave you here for safety, that way if something happens and the Death Eaters get inside, it'll look like you remain a prisoner, and you won't be killed by you're 'master' for it," Harry told him, smiling gently then stepping out of the barrier.

 He told the others of the plans. "I only hope that we can hold off this force," he said. "I'm sure that we will be able to, but for how long? We can only hope that it will be long enough."

 The first years gave him looks of pure terror, he sighed. "I know it sounds cruel to tell you, but you are old enough and responsible enough to take  it. I'm not going to lie to you – your too intelligent lied to like that," he told them.

 They held themselves with more pride at that. Harry told them what he'd found out from the Death Eaters – a few of the girls actually feinted – none of the Young Phoenixes, Harry was pleased to note.

 "Again, you deserve the truth. The situation is grave, and the attack will come at any minute now, I should wonder. They know which compartment we are in, since this one is fortified, but I can only hope that the fortifications will prove to be enough.

 "Now, I'm some of what happens now will seem odd, even to those who know magic, the only thing that I can tell you is that it's something that I learned at the Seekers Academy, and I can't say anything about that, it's forbidden," he told them.

 Just at that moment the sentries yelled a warning and Harry bounded to his feet, calling to the Elementals of light, he muttered some nonsense words under his breath and waved his wand as if he was actually doing a spell.

 In his hands a ball of what looked like metal appeared, "oh, and what's that going to do Potter?" Malfoy demanded, but Harry had thrown open one of the windows and hurled the object at the for-runners of the Death Eater attack. 

 "Cover or close your eyes, now!" Harry barked, not turning to see if his orders were carried out, his eyes were for the ball. It hit the ground in the middle of the group, and there was a sudden flash of light that left spots flickering over Harry's vision.

 He ordered the Seventh years who took advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts to get to the windows and see what they could do with temporarily – or permanently, for those who were looking right at it and were nearby when the ball exploded – blinded. 

 He bounded over to the other side to do the same. Even with just those two spells, he could feel the drain of the magical working on him – Light elementals were the hardest of all, to anyone, apparently. This spell was even worse than most of those he'd learnt from Shadow Master.

 He just wished that he could use the portal made out of Darkness, but for this many people, that would be impossible if he still wanted to defend those who stayed behind, and it would leave him completely exhausted for far too long if he did attempt it.

 Once he'd performed the same on the other side of the carriage, Harry sat down, elbows resting on his knees and tried to recover.

 'Harry? What's wrong?' Elisa asked in his mind, not daring to come away from the window where she was hurling spells at the Death Eaters.

 "Get back and close the windows, they're retreating, for the moment. They'll be back, but we can't let ourselves be worn out in one attack and then get defeated in the next," Harry called out as loud as he needed to be.

 'I'm just tired – working that spell takes it out of me like nothing else. I don't think I could do it again, but I'll see what else there is that I can do,' Harry added to Elisa.

 'Right,' Elisa replied, checking to make sure no one had been hurt. "That was amazing! None of ours were even hurt!" She exclaimed. Malfoy was looking sullen, probably because his attempt to slander Harry hadn't worked at all, and he was still seeing spots from watching the ball, since he hadn't paid any attention to Harry's order to look away.

 Everyone was far more cheerful now, they'd beaten the Death Eaters back once, and they could do it again! Harry didn't pay much attention to them. 

 One victory meant next to nothing, the Death Eaters were prepared now, and it would be far harder the next time, but he couldn't break the fragile trust and cheer that had been built up, now he had to think about the next attack … he'd have to try using his Elemental powers and see if he couldn't call up a storm or something …

 He also kept a close watch on Malfoy, who'd be suffering about the same as the Death Eaters outside, the Slytherins vision was obvious clearing, which meant that so was the Death Eaters.

 Not daring to wait any longer to recover, Harry made it look as if he was tired and was thinking, closed his eyes and sent out his Elemental powers searching for something that he could use against the Death Eaters.

 He could have laughed aloud: the was a huge storm brewing about ten miles to the north of them, and it didn't take much to re-arrange the winds and increase their speed – it was easy enough to change things that were already happening.

 He opened his eyes again. 'There will be a storm arriving in about in ten minutes,' he told Elisa. 'I hope that you can do something with that, use some spells to make everything harder for the Death Eaters.'

 'I'll talk to Hermione, we'll think of something!' Elisa assured him. 'I'll do what I can to keep you from having to as much, you need to be able to concentrate on your own magic.'

 'Thank you,' Harry told her, his relief nearly consuming him for a moment, then he shook that off and took out his wand. Because his magic was being used up with the fight, he could use the wand easier than he could use Wandless, which was a relief, because Wandless wore him out a lot more.

 He created drink and some food as well, inviting everyone to eat. "You need to keep up your energy," he told everyone, catching their eyes. "If you don't you won't be able to do much to keep the Death Eaters away."

 Everyone ate, except for the Slytherins, who made their own, as if to say that Harry's wasn't good enough for them. Harry couldn't care less, he had better things to do.

 "The Death Eaters look they might be re-grouping," one of the sentries said, peering out of the window. "I don't they are going to move immediately though."

 Elisa, Ron, Hermione and the students who had elemental powers were grouped together in a corner talking fast. Harry didn't bother to ask what they were talking about, he'd find out when Elisa told him anyway.

 A moment later find out he did. 'Harry! It's wonderful! We've got all of the Elemental students forming paths for the lightning to take! Right into the Death Eaters!' Elisa said, practically bouncing up and down with glee.

 Harry smiled at her. 'Good, but I need more ideas … I need away of keeping them back for longer, but I can't think of anything!' he was annoyed, he _should_ be able to think of something, he was trained for it, but the only thing he could think of was going out there, and on his own, that would be a suicide. 

 Overhead the storm broke. "Ha-ha!" a couple of the sentries broke out laughing. "There's lighting that keeps striking in the groups of Death Eaters!" one of yelled.

 The rain came too, pouring down in torrents. Harry just hoped that Sirius was close by and wouldn't have to fly or whatever through it for long.

 He looked outside, even though it was only around midday, the sky was black and it was very dark outside, the sun completely hidden by the clouds. 

 The Death Eaters were in great discomfort, and Harry got the younger students, who were feeling useless, to call some fires to keep the train compartment warm and cosy.

 Everyone was feeling a lot better now, it seemed, since it was the enemy that was suffering at the moment. Harry turned his attentions to the rest of their 'fort'.

 It needed a better defence, since the next thing the Death Eaters – or the Seekers, at least – would try would be to come at them from the corridors outside, having gotten inside through the front and ends of the train, or breaking the windows to clamber in somewhere else.

 He used the strongest Wandless magic he could find to seal the doors shut, and the windows from being opened from the outside, or broken, then set about shielding them from Apparation properly, he'd thrown up a few simple wards that would stop the Death Eaters for a moment, but that they'd be able to break through after far to short a time for Harry's liking.

 Now he put up wards that were the equal of Hogwarts, which meant hat no one would be getting inside. Having finished that, Harry was feeling more drained than before.

 'Harry, don't do any more. I can _feel how worn out you are, and if you do much more you'll be out cold for the next week,' Elisa warned him from her seat by one of the windows._

 She had a small group of first years clustered around her, and they were watching the lightning flashing from the sky into the Death Eater camps.

 Suddenly there was a new flash, colours were leaping around everywhere, and reinforcements had arrived! Harry rushed to the window and stared out thankfully, then remembered the Dementors and drew his wand, throwing one of the windows open and ignoring the gale that was blowing around him.

 He focused on the memory of his first ever birthday party and yelled "Expecto Patronum!" though the actual words were lost in the winds. The silver stag exploded from his wand tip and raced away into the night.

 Harry pushed himself backwards and inside, slamming the window shut and watching to see what happened. Elisa was right, he was spent now, and could only hope that no one outside would need his help with anything.

 It seemed like hours before there was a knock on the door, and Sirius voice yelled out to let them inside. Harry took off the wards and allowed them to enter the chamber. 

 There were about twenty Aurors and all of the Hogwarts staff present, even Snape, which momentarily surprised Harry, before he realised that the man could easily turn up here and say that he couldn't get away because everyone was watching him.

 Sirius came straight over to Harry and Elisa. Harry looked at him. "I'm pretty much spent with magic, it'll take me a few days to recover," he told his godfather wearily. "I can't do anything more now, that's for sure."

 "That's fine, we've got Portkeys," Sirius replied with a grin, knowing how much Harry hated these instruments of travel. "Come on everyone, ten to each of the adults please!" he added at a yell to get everyone to move.

 "Go on, hurry up so that we can all get back to Hogwarts!" Harry added afterwards, injecting as much cheer as possible into his voice. There was a much more noticeable reaction to Harry than there had been to Sirius.

 "They're used to doing what I ask," Harry explained to his godfather, who smiled faintly and nodded in agreement.

 Menolly was one of the Aurors present, and she approached Harry, Elisa and Sirius now. "See what trouble you get up to when I'm not around to keep an eye on things?" She remarked. "You kids did extremely well for yourselves," she added, surveying the cart and remembering the battlefield outside.

 "We just wanted to keep them off, it's thanks to Harry that we are alive," one of the forth year Ravenclaws said. "No one even got hurt, and Harry knew what to do!"

 "Harry was trained for it, though he wasn't trained in having more than one person to defend," Sirius replied. "Let's get you to Hogwarts. Everyone! Activate Portkeys!"

 A moment later Harry felt the all-too familiar tug behind his navel and  a moment later slammed into the Hogwarts school grounds. If it wasn't for Sirius's hand on his arm, he would have collapsed. "Come on, you need to get to the Hospital Wing," Sirius said softly.

 Elisa strode to his side. "I go with him," she said firmly, and Sirius nodded in agreement before leading them off up the grounds, the teachers were organising the students, since the normal trip across the lake obviously wasn't happening.

 This, however, was not Harry's problem. His problem was keeping on his feet, and he was stubbornly refusing to lean on his godfather. Getting up the stairs, however, was a different matter altogether. Harry was would have fallen right back down them if Sirius and Elisa hadn't been supporting him, and they both refused to let go after that.

 They got him up to the Hospital Wing without much fuss, and Madam Pomfrey scowled at Harry. "You're back again are you? What have you done this time?"

 "He wore himself out magically keeping all of the students safe when the train was attacked by Death Eaters," Sirius explained.

 "Quite a hero then aren't you? Well, you are going to need to rest for a  few days to recover from that, because I know that your stores of magic are generally larger than most people," Madam Pomfrey said, urging Harry into a bed. 

 "Um, do you mind if I stay up here with him?" Elisa asked. "It's just that he's my brother, and he might want the company, I could come back up after the feast."

 "Of course dear," Madam Pomfrey smiled at her. "You can have that bed next to when you come back up."

 "Thank you!" Elisa hugged the plump little nurse and walked over to the indicated bed to wait for Harry to get undressed and into his.

 "Professor, kindly help your godson undress and get him into bed. I've got a potion that will help him gain his strength back a little faster, so I'll go and get that now."

 She bustled off and Elisa waited for her father to finish getting Harry into the bed, then he came over to her. "Hey Eli, you'll be alright here? You don't feel too bad do you?"

 "No, not too bad," she agreed. "Dad, do you think that I could give Harry some of _my_ strength so that we're both out for tonight but we'd both recover faster that way, wouldn't we?"

 "I have a genius for a daughter," Sirius remarked. "Quickly talk to Harry about that, we'll go down and introduce you to the school and watch the Sorting."

 "Ok, Harry!" She called a little louder. "What do you think?"

 "No reason it shouldn't work, we'll try it once you come back from the Sorting, ok?"

*Elisa's POV*

 Walking down to the Great Hall with her father, Elisa felt incredibly nervous, she wished she could turn tail and bolt back up to the Hospital Wing and hide under the bed sheets rather than keep moving in the direction she was travelling in.

 She kept walking.

 It didn't take them _too long to reach the Great Hall, and the First Years had just been led into the Hall. Elisa and Sirius walked up to the Staff Table and her father left Elisa standing slightly behind the new first years._

 The woman that Elisa knew to be Professor McGonagall put the Sorting Hat gently on a stool in front of the line and stepped back. 

 The Sorting Hat twitched, opened it's "mouth" and began to sing the this years song.

_In times remote and ancient,  
When we still lived in clans,   
Young wizards and young witches learned   
Their elders' skills by chance._

_The lands were bare and empty  
No halls of learning stood  
On these deserted moors, until  
The Founders said they should._

_They built up Hogwarts Castle  
Most magical of schools,  
Then thought up a curriculum  
To bind their powers in rules._

_But when they started teaching,  
They found they disagreed  
On magic's nature and its aim,   
On Hogwarts' magic creed._

_So by the by, they wondered  
Which spells and charms to teach:  
"What's magic, and which powers," they asked,  
"Should be within our reach?"_

_Sweet Hufflepuff just chuckled:  
"'tis strange that you should ask,  
I've known since first I raised my wand  
That magic is a _task_."_

_But Gryffindor, the warrior  
Said: "Magic is a_ blade_;   
To fight all evil is the truest   
Magical crusade."_

_Wise Ravenclaw retorted:  
"No, Magic is a _lore_,  
Is learning and is knowledge  
With power in its core."_

_Coy Slytherin did not agree:  
"True magic is a _tool_,  
To shape the world, the people, too,  
To bend them to your rule."_

_The founders talked and argued  
All day, and through the night,  
Until they found that magic's aim   
Was not theirs to decide,_

_Because their magic students  
Would put their powers to use  
In their own ways: The aim of them  
Is each of yours to choose._

_The artisan, the scholar  
Both have a task to do;  
Adventurers and strategists,  
Our time needs all of you._

_My task is now to sort you  
According to your strength.  
It's up to you to find your powers,  
To find yourselves at length._

(AN: This song was NOT written by me, it was written by any, and taken from her fic 'Unplottable' found here, the music notes to this song can be found ; here. This was borrowed and used here with the permission of the original author) 

 The Professor stepped forward again, unrolling a piece of parchment that undoubtedly had the names of the students on them. She tuned out and contacted Harry. 'You alright mate?' she asked him.

 'Yeah,' Harry voice returned, a little strained. 'Took the potion that she gave me, and she's trying to make to me take a dreamless sleep potion, but I've told her that I'll sleep once you've come up again.'

 'Ok, I'll do my best to eat fast and come back, I want to try that me giving you strength thing,' Elisa told him.

 'Are you sure that you want to? It could hurt you in any number of ways, it's completely unattempted before us,' Harry sounded a little nervous now, and she could only guess that he'd been thinking before she talked to him.

 'It'll be fine, Harry!' She told him. 'Besides, your welfare is my main concern, and getting you better should be both of our priorities. You need to get back to classes, even if it's just to show the new students – and the older ones for that matter – that Death Eaters will hardly affect you. It gives them hope.'

 'Ok, you're probably right there. I'll look forward to your returning,' Harry said, and she sensed a smile. 'How is the Sorting going?'

 'Good, they've got about half way through. Does the hat sing a new song every year?' Elisa asked.

 'Yeah, I've only heard two of the six it's sung since I came here,' she sensed his laughter again. 'I heard it in the first year, the second year Dobby wouldn't let me catch the train, so we missed it, the third year was when the Dementors were on the train and Professor McGonagall took me and Hermione up to her office to ask if I was alright, I heard it in forth year, and in fifth I was at the Academy – I'm really going to try and get there again next year,' Harry told her.

 She smiled faintly. 'You don't have much luck with catching the Sorting, do you?' She remarked.

 'Nope,' he replied cheerfully. 'Nearly your turn now.'

 He was right – there were only three more students to Sort, and one of those was on the stood already. Those three were done with far quicker than she would have liked, and Dumbledore stood up.

 "Students, before I can give notices or start the feast, we have a new student to welcome to our school – Elisa Black, daughter of our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, has come with her mother from America recently and has joined our ranks of Gryffindor Students after passing the O.W.L.'s over the holidays so that she could join Sixth Year!"

 The Gryffindor students went wild as Elisa walked over and took her place next to Hermione at the table, a little embarrassed by the well wishes of her house.

 The notices that Dumbledore said seemed like gobbledegook to her, since she didn't know half of what he was talking about, but he finally gave them leave to eat.

 Elisa ate a little of the food, but it didn't take much to fill her up, since she'd eaten on the train, and when she'd finished the food, she got up and left the Hall, heading back to the Hospital Wing.

 When she entered, Madam Pomfrey approached her. "You probably spent a lot of your energy on the train too, dear, Mr. Potter was kind enough to remind me of that a moment ago, so you should probably have some of this potion to gain strength too," she said.

 Elisa smiled brightly and took the potion. "Thank you so much!" she said happily, hurrying over to her bed.

 Madam Pomfrey smiled to herself that_ one will be a heartbreaker, whether she wants to be or not … she thought, heading back to her office._

 Lying down in the bed, Elisa contacted Harry. 'Let's try now, shall we?' she sent. 

 'Good idea … now we just have to work out how …' 

 This proved to take a while, but almost an hour later they managed it, Elisa had the unpleasant feeling of her strength draining away from her, and suddenly she and Harry were fighting to stop it.

 They managed it, but only just. 'That was close, I don't think we should do that again unless the situation is _really bad,' Harry remarked._

 'I think that is a very good idea,' Elisa said, a little dazed.

 'Take the potion,' Harry advised, the one in silver is a dreamless sleep potion, take the other one first.'

 Once the potions were taken, she fell into the welcome depths of sleep.

*Harry's POV*

 The next morning Harry didn't wake until late, and he still felt somewhat exhausted, but a lot better than the night before.

 'Hey Harry! Well done yesterday!' Lily said. 'I'm sorry we weren't around to talk with you and help, but we had to go and speak with Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram, they are about to have their first child!'

 'Wow, but hasn't it only been a few hours since I left, according to their time?' Harry asked.

 'No, it only runs that way when one of the Potter's is there,' James explained. 'Otherwise the time is the same as it is here.'

 'Ah. Elisa, are you alright?' He heard her stirring and waken. 

 'Yeah, still tired, but I'm fairly good,' she replied. 'Are we going to lessons today, or staying here?'

 'That all depends on whether Madam Pomfrey thinks we are well enough,' Harry replied.

 'Next time you see Lilith and Jaram, give them my congratulations,' he added to his parents.

 'Will do!' James assured his son. 'We'll be around for today, so we can have a long talk about what happened yesterday, maybe I can help you and Elisa some help with the bond-thingy.'

 'Ok, we'll talk later then!' Harry said, smiling slightly. At that moment Madam Pomfrey came bustling over.

 "You may leave this morning, the Headmaster believes that it is best for Miss Black to go to all of her classes, and that you should probably be moving around and using _some magic to help you recover," she replied, lips pursed._

 Harry nodded and swung out of the bed, a charm that he used his wand for had him dressed in no time, he used a very simple spell and said the words aloud so that Madam Pomfrey knew this.

 Elisa stood up, still wearing what she'd been wearing the night before, and quickly changed into her Hogwarts robes, which Sirius had brought in the night before when they'd both been sleeping.

 "Come on, I'll show you around, just stick by me and you won't get too lost," Harry said, grinning.

 "I like the _too in that sentence," Elisa replied with a laugh and they headed out the door laughing and joking. Madam Promfrey stared at them, and at the door they'd exited for quite some time after they'd disappeared, thinking __so like their fathers at that age._

 As the entered the Great Hall, everyone turned to them, and raised a spontaneous cheer. Harry was sorely tempted to leave – quickly, and  he knew that Elisa felt the same, despite the fact that she'd been there the night before. He managed to stay, however, keeping his face blank.

 "Mr. Potter, Miss Black, the school – and indeed the entire magical world – owes you a great dept of gratitude. You, and your group, the Young Phoenixes, I believe it's called, will receive a trophy for special services to the school, and an Order of Merlin, Second Class," Dumbledore said gravely.

 The Young Phoenixes stared at each other. There was _no one_ there age who'd ever gotten an Order of Merlin Third Class before! But then, it _was a very difficult thing they'd done._

 "The Ministers of Magic are organising the Orders of Merlin as we speak, and the Trophy has been placed in the Trophy room. House points _would_ be given, but the school year hadn't started at the time of the event," Dumbledore added.

 "Now, this is Elisa Black, sorted into Gryffindor during the holidays, she completed the O.W.L.'s and will join the Sixth Years of her house in their lessons from now on. I know you'll treat her well," Dumbledore sat down and Harry and Elisa hurried to their seats at the Gryffindor Table.

 "Remind to come in _early from now on," Harry grumbled._

 "Does that happen often?" She asked.

 "It's never happened on the first day before," Harry replied. "Usually closer to the last, if I have to win anything."

 She laughed slightly and sat down beside Hermione with Harry beside Ron three seats down. The Gryffindors congratulated them and the Head Boy and Girl (AN: I know I put Cho Chang in the wrong year *shrugs* I stuffed myself up with the Atlantis thing *grins* oh well.) were handing out the time tables.

 Harry looked at his and grinned – Defence Against the Dark Arts was first. 'Come on,' he said to Elisa. 'Let's go rig the classroom while Sirius is eating.'

 'Won't he know it was us?' Elisa asked doubtfully.

 'Of course, but we are Marauders, and he's been teaching us to play pranks almost the entire summer,' Harry pointed out. 'He'll be proud, and he'll pretend not to know who did it too.'

 'Ok, let's go then. Don't we have to go up to Gryffindor Tower to get our stuff first though?'

 'That is exactly our excuse for leaving early, but a simple summoning charm will bring those,' Harry replied impatiently. 'Let's go!'

 'Oh, fine! I hope you aren't going to use too much magic with this, otherwise I'll have to stop you,' Elisa warned.

 'I know – we'll mostly be doing Muggle stuff, but hide them with magic,' Harry replied, standing up and delivering their excuse for leaving.

 The pair of them hurried off, Harry using a summoning spell almost the moment they were out of the Hall, and continued quickly to the class room.

 "Are you sure you can do this?" Elisa demanded.  

 "Yeah, because I'm using a wand, not wandless," Harry explained. "For a little while I'll actually be able to use this thing, which is a pleasant change, it'll be easy enough."

 "Ah, ok then. Let's get started!" Elisa said, taking out her own wand, she charmed a bucked of sand over the door and hid it with an invisibility charm.

 Harry put invisible strings criss-crossing all over the class room, tied to the chairs and tables so that when the people walked to their desks they'd trip over and have all of the furniture pulled around everywhere, Harry grinned, imagining the pandemonium that would follow, and quickly performed another charm that made it so the people who sat at the front (Sirius included) would get almost all the way there while the rest of the class would nearly get to their seats, and then they'd all trip over.

 "We have to think of a reason to be late to class," Harry said thoughtfully.

 "We'll just go up to the Gryffindor tower and come down again," Elisa said with a shrug, "that'll take long enough, and it'll be believable too."

 "Yeah, but we'll have to run to make sure we get here soon enough that it won't put suspicion on us," Harry agreed.

 Finishing up, the pair of mischief makers hurtled upstairs to the Gryffindor Common room, skidded to a halt just in front of the Fat Lady's portrait and headed back down at a run.

 They arrived in front of the door gasping for breath, grinning at the sand all over the floor in front of them, and flung open the door to look onto a scene of unfolding chaos.

********************************************************

Aftermath of the prank next chapter …

Thanks To:

Tasidia, Narcissa Malfoy, fantasydima, Nerwen, Orion, Ian, Aensland, phoenixrising, Dog Stars Crush, Songbreeze Swifteye, Temporary Insanity, Queen of Redwall, Lady Valura, LadyD, Clare, Mercury Girl, hyper yoyo boy, SnakeBoy, Thelvyn, theauthorthatwrites, pamela-potter-24, Black Dragon, Ashura the Destroyer, Blue Saiyan, sew2100, sew2100, sew2100, etfrompo, JerseyGirl03, Xirleb70, Fay Stone, naïve, the little bluebird, princess55, Bridgette and Destruxion!

Wicked! 36 reviews! Updates coming faster now, since I'm getting closer to finished! Guess what! I'm over 100,000 words! Whoo hoo! *celebrates briefly* and now I only need 9 reviews to have over 600 of them!

I really wanna get over 1000 reviews for this story, so please help!!

~WolfMoon~


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Last Chapter Ending:

They arrived in front of the door gasping for breath, grinning at the sand all over the floor in front of them, and flung open the door to look onto a scene of unfolding chaos.

Chapter Twenty:

 Just as they arrived the class began tripping over the many wires and strings that criss-crossed the room, the furniture was sliding in every direction and there were yells of surprise and pain from several of the students.

 Harry and Elisa stood in the doorway surveying the scene with expressions of surprise and worry, carefully manufactured for the occasion.

 It took almost twenty minutes to clear everything up, and no one was too badly injured. "Who did that?" Sirius demanded, he looked at his two children, who looked back at him with looks of injured innocence.

 "You suspect _us?" Harry both looked and sounded astounded and hurt. "We've just run from the Great Hall up to the Gryffindor Tower and back here – and might I remind you that I am still recovering from using as much magical power as I did yesterday? I'm not stupid enough to attempt something like __this."_

 Sirius looked at him for a moment. "Of course not," he conceded. "Your record, however, is against you, but presented with your case I can see that it could hardly have been you. This means that it is someone else, though I doubt that they will come forward and face the consequences of their actions."

 At the same time he signed to Harry, _You don't fool me you know. I am the master._

_ I know that. But it's a plausible explanation and I didn't think that you'd punish us for it,_ Harry responded lazily. He was rewarded with Sirius's brief nod of approval.

 The class began with no more surprises, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin students seemed to take Harry's word for it that it hadn't been his fault, though they looked murderously from one to another as if trying to find out who it was who _did_ do it.

 The rest of the lesson passed fast and then it was time for Charms. Harry wished that he could have booby-trapped all of the classrooms, but he knew that that _would_ have worn him out.

 The day passed in relative peace, as there was no Potions, and all of the teachers were very supportive of Elisa, who seemed a little overwhelmed by the school.

 It didn't help that all of the guys were staring at her, but as Harry was always nearby and watching, they kept their distance from her, and she was grateful.

 "They scare me. Not _your friends, but the other ones, the ones who aren't in your immediate circle," she told him that night, as they made their way up from dinner. _

 "I know, I was watching them all day," Harry growled. "And don't worry Eli, if they ever even _try something that you don't want them to do, they'll have me to deal with – and I don't think any of them are going to risk that."_

 "The only thing that worries me is the Halloween Ball – Dad said that Dumbledore was seriously considering having one this year," Elisa replied. 

 "That's alright, I'm sure that one of my friends will fill in for a 'date', one of the ones who is mature enough to know that there isn't anything behind it. That is, if you haven't found anyone to go with when the time comes," Harry told her, smiling.

 Elisa relaxed with a laugh. "You know, we should probably ask Dad if he can help us with training me in fighting techniques, and how to break _other_ people – namely you – out of a physical attack," she remarked after a little more walking in companionable silence.

 "That's a good idea … and we should spend more time on fighting techniques too, what with that attack on the Hogwarts Express. It clearly shows that the Death Eaters are getting bolder – too bold, in my opinion," Harry remarked.

 "Whatever happened to that Death Eater on the train?" Elisa tried to summon a memory.

 "Your mother took him to the Ministry office and is keeping him under arrest there. I'm going to his trial in three weeks time," Harry replied. "I'm hoping to get him freed, but no one knows what we could do with him after that …" 

 "You'll think of something … or I'll think of it for you," Elisa told him with a grin. "Now let's go find dad!"

 Sirius wouldn't let either of them much that night, but he and Harry were able to teach Elisa a few things, and before they left, he gave them both vials of the strength-gaining potion.

 "I know the recipe, and I got some from Madam Pomfrey to give to Harry anyway," he told them. "That way you'll both be able to do whatever you need to within a few days, hopefully."

 "Thanks dad!" Elisa yelled over her shoulder, her and Harry already halfway out of the door. 

 The two teenagers hurried up to the Gryffindor Common Room, wanting to spend more time with the students, since Elisa wanted to make some friends, and Harry wanted to catch up with old ones.

 "I'll leave you to make friends on your own," Harry murmured to her, and wandered off to watch Dean and Seamus playing a game of Gobstones.

 "Hey Harry," Neville greeted him cheerfully, looking up from a huge book on Herbology that he was studying.

 "Hi Neville, how was your summer?" Harry asked, smiling back and remember Neville's parents who were lying in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after being tortured by Death Eaters and completely loosing their sanity fourteen years ago, just after Harry had defeated Voldemort.

 "Oh, alright. Gran got sick so I spent a lot of the holidays at St. Mungo's visiting her," Neville replied, but his face was a little pale.

 "And your parents?" Harry's voice was so soft that no one but Neville could have overheard.

 "You know about that?" Neville's head shot up, eyes wide with surprise. "How?"

 "I heard it in one of my dreams about Voldemort in forth year, and I asked Dumbledore about it, because I wondered if Frank was a relation of yours. Dumbledore told me, but he asked me to keep it to myself, because you'd tell us when you were ready too," Harry explained.

 "Oh. I _would_ have told you, but the time was never right," Neville said, looking a little uncomfortable.

 Harry reached and gripped Neville's arm in a companionable gesture. "Don't worry – it was a touchy subject, and I haven't said anything until now because I didn't want to awaken any sleeping giants," he said. "Although it does help to talk about it – I'm always around, if you need to talk."

 "Thanks Harry," Neville said.

 "And Neville? Your parents would have been proud of you, no matter what you did," Harry said softly, sensing that his family would probably have often unintentionally mentioned that Neville was a poor substitute for his lost father.

 Neville smiled at Harry thankfully and went upstairs, Harry knew that even though he could sense that Neville was sad, and probably going to cry, it was going to do him good.

 He returned his attention to the game of Gobstones in time to see Seamus get squirted with foul smelling liquid.

 Laughing, he made his way passed the game and joined one of Exploding Snap – everyone was getting back into the school spirit and meeting up with the friends they hadn't seen all holidays.

The first few weeks of school passed almost without event, save for the fact that Harry was made the Quidditch Captain, something that thrilled both Sirius and Elisa.

 Harry and Elisa recovering fast from their magical drain and playing numerous pranks, all of which they managed to avoid getting the blame for.

 Finally the day of the Quidditch Trials came along, and, miraculously no pranks were played – Harry and Elisa were letting everyone have a day off.

 Out on the Quidditch Field the try-outs had all gathered. Harry looked over them and smiled as he looked down the list. There were a couple of other likely Seekers, a few Chasers and one other Beater – this meant that competition for his 'sister' would be little.

 "I will not be judging the try-outs," Harry said, cutting into the conversations that were going on. "As you know, my god-sister is one of those who is going to try out, and so me judging the trials wouldn't be fair. I'll leave that to the rest of the team, but I'll be watching anyway."

 The trials began, Harry watched the other person trying out for a Beater – the boy was good, but he didn't work as well with Colin as Elisa did. It was obvious to him that she'd make the team.

 As, when the time for the decision come, she did, smiling in triumph, she bounded up to where Harry was seated and delivered the news in person, rather than speaking over the mind link.

 Harry laughed and headed back down to the stadium floor with her, green-gold eyes sparkling gently. "I think it's time for us to resume animagus training," he muttered to her. "I've told Ron and Hermione that I'm going to have you changed before I get them to, because it'll be easier – Ron and Hermione will be on the same level, but it won't be the one that you are on."

 "Wicked," she replied, grinning. "When, and where?"

 "After dinner in the Forbidden Forest," Harry replied as they stepped down onto the grass-covered ground. The team bounded forward to congratulate their newest member, even the boy who'd lost the place to her came over to do so.

 The rest of the afternoon passed easily and dinner came and went – no one really noticed that Harry and Elisa had disappeared, they were always off _somewhere_ doing something, usually with Sirius.

 Out in the forest they sat on the hard ground and focused on the lesson at hand, as it was going to take them some time to get back to where they were before the end of the holidays.

 They didn't spend too much time on that, deciding to build their way up to where they'd been before, and turned the lesson into a practice of fighting.

 Elisa was progressing well, she'd obviously inherited something from her parents in this nature, as both of them where fighters themselves. She had taken will to hand-to-hand combat and knife work, though she was having some difficulty mastering the sword and other arms. 

 "You're doing great," Harry assured her, although nothing he could say would convince her of that. She was doing well, too. Harry had seen some of the new comers to the Academy with a _lot less potential than she had._

 With the gathering darkness the lesson ended, though Harry had some things to do before he returned to castle, he and Elisa both agreed that he should be doing them alone.

 The first thing to was to check on the Dothea's progress, as he hadn't in some time … not since the end of the last year, in fact. It didn't take him long to find the unicorn camp, and he smiled when he was welcomed with a little less frost than the time before.

 He spent a little while with the paired Dothae, who were getting along well and growing up slowly, but he excused himself not that long after, not wanting to impose on the unicorns, who _were still nervous around him. He hoped that would change one day soon._

 The other thing he had to do was go to Seekers Academy and talk to Tiger – Shadow Master – again. He wanted to see what the man said in response to the Seeker aided attack on the train.

 Getting himself to the Shadow Masters office turned out to be easy enough, and the man himself was seated behind his desk working away at something.

 Harry coughed softly to make his presence known, and Tiger almost immediately had a knife in the air heading for Harry's head. With a laugh, Harry ducked to the side, one hand snapping up to catch the knife and twirl it around his fingers for a moment, before it disappeared.

 "Panther! I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you … my rule here has been somewhat challenged of late, with more of ours going over to the Death Eaters every day," the man said, standing up.

 "I'm sorry to hear that, and you are forgiven," Harry said, directing a slight bow in the mans direction. "Perhaps you would be thinking of my school for the teaching of your methods of combat isn't a much better idea now?"

 "Yes, I was," Shadow Master admitted. "I know at the time I certainly didn't like the sound of it, but no more do I like Voldemort. I am ready to think about your wishes and come to an agreement."

 "What sort of agreement would that be, Shadow Master?" Harry asked, stressing the title just a little to say that he was behind Tiger and not about to run over to the opposition. Of course, being a Seeker, and an elderly one, Tiger wasn't going to accept that easily.

 "I will not even thinking about sharing the secrets of our trade with anyone who is untrustworthy – I do not wanting to train any more Death Eaters what is happening … are the rooms warded well?" he suddenly interrupted himself.

 Harry checked the warding and strengthened it. "I do not know why you are asking me, Shadow Master," he replied calmly.

 "Because the question I have to ask is one that you will not want the rest of the Keep to know of," Shadow Master replied. Harry's eyes flickered slightly, and Tiger took this to mean that it was safe to continue, "Harry Potter."

 Harry smiled faintly. "So you have guessed who I am … although it is not that difficult – I have made little move to try and hide who I am," he remarked.

 "That is true," Shadow Master agreed. "Very well, Harry Potter, my conditions for your proposal are these – I will send ten of the Seekers that I know I can trust – in so far as they will not go over to the Death Eaters – the students who come to the 'school' will swear a blood oath to tell nothing of what they learn there to anyone who is not already tipped to be allowed in.

 "There will never be more than seven students at a time, and they will remain with their true nature hidden until such time as their help is needed in defeating the Dark Lord. 

 "The people I send to you will be sworn to your service, and will not come against their will – I assure you," Shadow Master continued. "They will be under your over-all command, and you should probably elect a captain for every day basis from among them."

 Harry rose and bowed slightly. "My thanks to you, Shadow Master, this is more than I could have hoped for. Is there anything that you want in return?" He asked.

 "Only that if I _should be supplanted and manage to escape with my life, that I may stay with you for a while," Shadow Master replied. Harry was shocked, but hid it completely – the Shadow Master actually afraid for his life, and was planning on something if he escaped … Harry was fairly sure that something like that had not happened before – ever._

 "Of course," he said calmly, and turned to leave. "I have things to do, and people will question my absence if I am gone for much longer, but when can I expect the Seekers to arrive, and where?"

 "They'll come to Hogwarts as soon as I can organise it," Tiger promised, and Harry left the room after nodding. 

 He knew that Tiger was telling the truth, which was another odd thing that had happened, but he was glad of that, all the same.

 Heading back to Hogwarts, he went to Sirius to tell him what had happened at the Academy, and he was as astounded as Harry had been. "Well, he's helping us, and that's the main thing," he remarked at the end.

 Harry laughed and nodded. "I'd better get back to the common room – there's a party to celebrate having a full Quidditch team," he remarked.

 Sirius laughed and waved him out of the room. "Wouldn't dream of keeping you away from that!" he laughed.

 Harry raced off, heading for the Tower as fast as he could go – which was to say, _very_ fast. He arrived, hardly panting, outside of the Portrait Hole.

 "Godric," Harry said smiling at her. 

 She swung open onto a scene of chaos – the entire room was set up for a party, magical streamers playing in the air, balls of light darting everywhere food and drink had taken over the study tables and everyone was laughing and talking at once.

 'This is almost as fun as playing pranks!' Elisa sent to Harry, it being a little too loud to talk properly. 'Not quite though …'

 Harry laughed, grabbed a butterbeer and joined in the party.

 The next day Harry resumed his teams training, they needed to be going _perfect_ for the match against Slytherin – Harry wanted to beat them really well. 

 "I've got my new broom, so we should be able to win the match, but it's up to you to see how well that's done," Harry told them on the first practice. "Elisa and Colin, you need to practice hitting Bludgers at targets, I'll set them up for you, Chasers, you need to work mainly on passing the ball for the moment, so that you can get to know each other and your moves – Ron, I'll get a second Quaffle and charm it to try and get passed you – and I'll let the Snitch loose for myself."

 The team grinned and headed out of the changing rooms, mounting brooms and heading into the air. Harry waved his wand but used Wandless magic to create opponents that were invisible to those who weren't up against them

 The Chasers didn't have these because they weren't practicing evading anyone for the moment. Harry let the Snitch out and mounted his broom, not looking in the direction it had gone. He hurtled into the air and did an abrupt half turn to look around him.

 He smiled to see all of the players moving well. The Chasers were working fairly well together and Ron was blocking almost every Quaffle that headed for the goals. He missed a few, but that was only to be expected. 

 Turning his attention momentarily for the Beaters, Harry saw them signal out a target together and both hit the balls straight into the illusion, hitting at almost the exact same time.

 He smiled and returned to his own search, practicing flying manuvers that he'd probably need during the game to avoid the other players. It was a little over an hour later when they landed again, because they could see the Slytherin team coming down to the Pitch – they'd booked it right after the Gryffindors.

 They left the stadium when the Slytherins were already in the air, Harry smiled to himself, the other teams brooms were starting to lag slightly in the air, he remembered Madam Hooch telling him that the Nimbus models did this. His old Firebolt was a lot better, and his new broom … there was no competition for that.

 Ignoring the Slytherin's yelling that they'd be beaten into oblivion in the upcoming game, the Gryffindors wondered off. 

 Harry knew that they Slytherins were very jealous of the Gryffindors at the moment, because Slytherin had only gotten three new students while Gryffindor had got twelve, Ravenclaw had seven and Hufflepuff the same. 

 The three new Slytherins were not teased by the rest of the school, because Harry had talked to the Young Phoenixes and the word had been spread that just because they were Slytherins didn't make them bad – it just meant that they were more strategic thinkers and cunning planners.

 They even had some friends, although they rarely talked to them outside of classes, since the older Slytherins beat up anyone who didn't show 'house loyalties'.

 Harry felt sorry for them, and wished that the Slytherin students could be nicer, though he didn't have all that much hope of this wish ever being fulfilled.

 Heading back up to the Common Room with the team, Harry and Elisa slipped away half way up to visit Sirius for a training session, promising to join up with the team later in the Common Room.

 The next few weeks passed quickly, and Elisa was fast approaching being able to change form to her Animagus form, Harry thought that they could try the first transformation not too long after the game against Slytherin, as they would have more time to work on it then.

 The game, too, was coming up fast, and the team was training as many extra hours as possible. Everyone was worn out a lot of the time, and so Harry, Sirius, and Elisa didn't have much time to work on fighting techniques – these training sessions would also become more frequent after the game.

 Finally the morning of the match dawned, Harry woke early, as was his habit, and Elisa woke at pretty much the same time. 'Let's go down to the kitchens and eat there,' Elisa suggested. 'I think that the team will be the centres of attention if we go to the Great Hall.'

 'Good idea, can you wake the girls up, I'll get the boys, that way we can leave the castle when we are ready to, and no one will see our 'secret weapon' either,' Harry responded, dressing quickly.

 He woke Ron and up and left his friend getting dressed while he went to find the others, who all grumbled about getting up so early, but agreed that having breakfast privately was a good idea. 

 The team gathered in the common room and headed down to the kitchens together, where they were served by Dobby with light but filling foods that were good to eat before playing a sport.

 They headed out to the pitch before the opposition arrived, while the school was just getting around to standing up and coming down to the stands.

 Harry and his team changed quickly and Harry gathered them for a brief pep-talk. "Ok team, usually winning isn't the big thing for us – two out of three games, anyway. But this game – we want to win! We don't need those dumb Slytherins lording it over us for winning _one game," Harry told them._

 "We've worked hard, perfected techniques and you all know what to do! Now we just have to get out there and do it!" The team cheered him and headed outside.

 They arrived in the middle of the field as the school settled, and waited for the Slytherins to get changed and come out, while the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students yelled out encouragement which completely drowned out the heated insults from the Slytherin part of the pitch.

 Finally the other team arrived and Madam Hooch got Harry and Draco Malfoy, who had been made Quidditch Captain despite his ban from the team for the year before, shake hands.

 "Teams, mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch yelled. "Take off on my whistle! Three … two … ONE!" The whistle blew and Harry hurtled upwards – it was only now that Malfoy even noticed that Harry had a different broom, as the Gryffindor Seekers hurtled into the sky like a speeding bullet, faster than any of the other brooms. 

 The Slytherin Captain also noticed that Elisa had Harry's old Firebolt, which seemed to annoy him no end – he still hadn't gotten over her complete and utter dismissal of him, even if he would never even think of having a relationship with Sirius Black's daughter.

 Harry smiled faintly as he swooped and dove in circles around Malfoy, keeping the other Seeker moving at all times and not looking for the Snitch.

 Harry himself kept a careful eye out for both the Snitch and watching his team knock the Slytherins down at every turn. Elisa and Colin proved to be deadly, ganging up on various members with _both of the Bludgers, which wasn't against the rules unless it was the Keeper they were attacking._

 By the time the first ten minutes were up they'd already had one of the opposing Beaters out of the game and were currently trying to get rid of one of the better Chasers.

 They hadn't even bothered to take a shot at Malfoy as yet, for they were waiting for Harry's signal – they kept an eye on him when they could spare it.

 Smiling, Harry gave it and waited to see the Bludgers come speeding up towards both of them before he flipped out of the way and Malfoy took the brunt of one blood against his right shoulder, the other smashing into the tail of his broom and sending him into an uncontrolled spin in circles.

 'Perfect,' Harry sent to Elisa.

 'She's just like her father – he was a terror as a Beather too,' James remarked, Harry could hear the laughter in his fathers voice. 'You're doing good kid, now you just have to keep an eye out for the Snitch.'

 'James, I forbid you to help,' Lily warned him sternly. 

 'I forbid you to help too, Dad,' Harry added, grinning wildly as Malfoy got his broom under control again, obvious uncomfortable, Harry was fairly sure his shoulder was either fractured or very close too.

 Suddenly he saw a glint of gold way down below him, so far away that he was fairly sure only his super-human eyesight allowed him to glimpse it, and even that was difficult.

 Harry set his broom in a dive straight down, Malfoy was heading down too, seeing where Harry was headed. Harry was paying no attention to anything but the Snitch, as he overtook Malfoy.

 He didn't notice the too black blurs that were the Bludgers come out of nowhere and strike Malfoy on the same shoulder and a vicious blow to the head, the other Seeker was falling, but Harry failed to even see it, so intent was his concentration.

 Suddenly the little ball darted upwards, straight into Harry's outstretched hand, and as he pulled out of the dive, he saw Malfoy's unconscious form falling downwards, slower than his own decent had been.

 Without letting anyone notice it was him, he used Wandless magic to slow down the other boy's fall and settle him gently on the ground. The Snitch still firmly held in his hand, Harry knelt over him, wand in his other hand, he muttered a few spells – he could see the life slipping away fast from his old opponent as the teachers shoved back the students to reach them.

 "Potter, what are you doing?" Snape demanded harshly, about to snatch Harry back from his prize student.

 "I am attempting to save his life – he's dying, Professor Snape!" Harry snapped back. "I'm an assassin, I can see the life leaving him, but the spells I'm using should keep him alive long enough for better medical treatment to come. Eli! Take my broom and get Madam Pomfrey down here fast!" he added aloud, although he'd already put the request to his god-sister, this way it seemed more natural.

 Elisa was on the broom and moving towards the school at a breakneck place – she was a good flier, Harry thought absently, weaving another spell around Malfoy using Wandless and Elemental magics to see what he could do to keep his long-time enemy alive.

 Behind him he could sense the teachers fidgeting, the crowd pushed and shoving, attempting to see what was going on. He could hear the muted roar of their conversation, but couldn't even manage to try and make sense of the words anyone was using, so caught up in his magic was he.

 A moment later Madam Pomfrey arrived, riding behind Elisa on Harry's broom, her kit in hand. She shoved her way through the crowd to kneel beside Harry.

 Seeing the state that Malfoy was in, her expression became very grave indeed. "I'm not sure how long he'll last," she admitted to the teachers and students alike, and there was an instantaneous lull in the conversation.

 "Mr. Potter, your spells are the only thing keeping him alive, can you maintain them while I do what I can to heal him?" She added.

 "Of course," Harry replied, voice slightly hoarse. "I can only keep them up for an hour at the most though."

 "An hour will do, if anything does," was his grim response. "Professor Dumbledore, please take the students back up to the school, I can't work with them crowding around like this!" 

 "Of course Poppy," Harry didn't hear what the headmaster said, but he did realise that the students left, because the drop in noise was immense.

 Only Elisa remained, and she simply sat down silently on the grass in front of the three people and watched, without a word.

 Poppy looked at her only once, but she seemed to realise that Elisa was not going to leave Harry any time soon – everyone knew that the pair were almost inseparable – and didn't try and make her go away.

 After a little while, Elisa realised that Harry still held the Snitch, and reached over to gently remove it from his hand, then returned to her former position.

 They sat that way for half an hour, Madam Pomfrey using spells and potions on Malfoy in a fast but sure manner. Elisa felt a little guilty, it was partly her fault that Malfoy was there, even if it was Colin's ball that had hit Malfoy in the head.

 Finally Madam Pomfrey sat back on her heels. "He can be moved now, and he won't be need your spells any more, Mr. Potter," she said. Harry broke of his spells immediately and stood, nearly falling over, but Elisa was already at his shoulder, steadying him.

 Madam Pomfrey created a stretcher and wafted Malfoy gently onto it. "Get him up to the Gryffindor Common room and make sure he sleeps," she instructed Elisa.

 Elisa nodded and led Harry along in a slow but sure gait up to the castle, Madam Pomfrey hurrying up ahead of them with Malfoy on the stretcher.

 Harry slept through the rest of that day, but woke up refreshed the next morning at his usual time, and got up to go for a quick training session with Sirius.

 "That was a good thing you did yesterday, kid," Sirius remarked. "Saving Malfoy."

 Harry looked at his godfather. "I know, but I couldn't just let him die … I should have, any other Seeker would have," he remarked.

 "I wouldn't have, but then, we weren't like the other Seekers, now where we?" Sirius replied coolly. "Besides, you're a good guy, Harry, and you couldn't just leave someone to die like that if you could help it."

 "I left Wolf to die," Harry pointed out, obviously in a depressed mood this morning.

 "That was different – he was trying to kill you," Sirius told him firmly. "Come on, lets train, maybe it'll take your mind off things." 

 Harry smiled and threw himself into the complicated sword movements, combining them with kicks and punches whenever he could.

 Elisa turned up not long after, and she and Sirius did a work out together, leaving Harry alone for the moment, which Elisa knew that he was grateful for.

 When they heard the rest of the school waking up, the three of them headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The whole school looked up at Harry as he walked into the room.

 'Bloody hell, here we go again,' Harry thought to Elisa, who smiled gently at him. The three of them ate at the Gryffindor Table this morning, Sirius not really wanting to be in the company of his fellow staff members.

 At that moment the doors slammed open.

*********************************************************

Hmm, wonder who came? Or went? Or what happened … well, that'll wait for next chapter! Review!

Thanks To:

Destruxtion, Lady Prongs, Joe, Clare, Jordan, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Cataclysmic, Morph012, GunSmoke, JerseyGirl03, SlytherinAtHeart, Narcissa Malfoy, Dog Stars Crush, Mercury Girl, SnakeBoy, Dobbyelfhouse, keebler-elmo, Brandon, Ian, LadyD, Teiraluna, Lynxie Alyssum aka Peppers, Peppers, Pamela-Potter-24, AG, Old Fawkes, AthenaKitty, Lady Prongs, and Lexi!

Whoohoo! Over 600! Just need 400 more reviews and I can get over 1000 *looks pleadingly at reviews* review and gimme a hand to get there? Please?

~WolfMoon~


	21. Chapter Twenty

Several people have asked if it was Lucious Malfoy who came, or if he had something to do with the unfolding events. He died in the first attack on Hogwarts when Harry and Sirius unveiled themselves.

Last Chapter Ending:

At that moment the doors slammed open.

Chapter Twenty One:

 Harry peered over the sea of turned faces to see who had entered the school, it took him a moment to recognise the woman he'd last seen what was, for him, a little over four years passed, but Narcissa Malfoy did not look too different from then.

 She approached the staff table, and no one could hear what she said to Dumbledore, but when he answered her, she looked slightly relieved, and continued speaking quietly for a moment. 

 The exchange ended when Dumbledore nodded and the woman turned and hurried from the Hall. "I think that she wanted to visit her son in the Hospital Wing," Harry told his friends thoughtfully.

 "That's right, that's Narcissa Malfoy," Ron exclaimed, finally recognizing the woman.

 "Yeah," Harry nodded, as did Hermione, remembering her as well. "I hope that Malfoy doesn't die, that woman doesn't look like she can take too many tragedies," Harry remarked.

 His friends nodded in wordless agreement while Harry explained to Elisa how they knew who Narcissa was.

 Two weeks after the Quidditch Game came the second Hogsmeade the trip, the first had been at Halloween, almost two months before, now. The Quidditch team had opted not to go that time, because they all wanted to have a perfect game, which meant a lot of practice.

 Harry had told them that if they wanted to they could stay behind and train for the upcoming game, and in the end everyone had remained behind.

 Harry was thankful to realise that the work this year was a lot harder than the last year, and the fact that he hadn't made an effort to study more over the holidays meant that he was only a little way ahead of his year group.

 He found that he liked Transfiguration most of all these days, and Professor McGonagall was a good teacher, knowing what challenged Harry and what didn't, so that he always had _something to do._

 It was the weekend before that in which Elisa finally managed to do her Animagus transformation – her form was a dog, like her father, but at the same time different, she was smaller, leaner, that Padfoot was, her black fur glistening and soft as silk, her eyes the same light grey, and her legs and paws far more dainty than her fathers.

 When they went to tell Sirius about it, he simply smiled. "A dog is a protector, and Black's protect the Potters, we nearly always have the same form, from what I can work out … it's sort of a family tradition to become unregistered Animagi, so I don't know that much … I only learn that my father was one when I found it in his journal during the holidays …" Sirius told them.

 "Wicked!" was the cheerful response from both children as they bounded over towards the door and up to the Gryffindor Common Room to share the information with their friends. 

 Ron and Hermione were happy, because this meant that they could finally begin to learn themselves. They would start the first lesson the weekend after, on the day after Halloween, or maybe mid way through the Halloween Feast.

 On the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry and Elisa woke early and headed down to the lake shore, where for a little while they sat watching the giant squid move this way and that across the lake.

 Then, without thought or word passing between them they both rose and stood for a moment, breathing lightly, completely relaxed and facing each other.

 Then, in a sudden flash they were both moving, kicks and blows aimed at one another, dancing out of reach and spinning back again. To a watcher, it might appear that they were doing some sort of really odd dance.

 They were going to find Elisa a sword that day so that they could continue with training in that sense as well, since it would be very useful for if they got in a fight, particularly with Seekers.

 Suddenly Harry had Elisa pinned on the ground, unable to move. She laughed. "Ok, let me up now!" She told him grinning, "you win."

 Harry stood up and helped her to her feet. Together they headed into the Great Hall as the rest of the school arrived. Narcissa Malfoy was still in the school; she ate up at the teachers table but stayed in the Hospital Wing keeping a vigil on her unconscious son.

 Harry smiled reassuringly at her, knowing that she was constantly afraid for her son's life these days, he and his friends tried to help her in what ways they could, a smile of reassurance here, or a gentle hand on her arm there, bringing her lunch in the hospital wing when she forgot because she was watching her son, desperately hoping for some sign of life.

 She seemed grateful to them, when she actually noticed – Harry wondered what it would feel like to lose a family member like that – he had not known his parents, so he'd never gone through that about their deaths, he hardly cared about his aunt, uncle and cousin and he had no other living relatives, until Sirius had come.

 Just thinking of losing one of his 'family' that is, Ron, Hermione, Elisa, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Sirius, Menolly, Arabella and Remus sent pangs through his heart.

 He'd heard from Remus that Arabella had gone to his place and was living there with him, according to Sirius they'd gone out for most of Hogwarts but separated afterwards, since Remus wasn't allowed to marry, due to his 'condition'.

 It seemed that old love had rekindled and there was going to be a marriage coming up in the very near future, which thrilled Menolly no end, because she didn't like seeing her old school friend a bachelor living away from the magical society, and didn't seem to think that there was a better match for her than Remus – Sirius seemed to think pretty much the same thing, just in reverse.

 Escaping from the rest of the school, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elisa and Sirius went down the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, because it was faster this way.

 Harry used a few spells to enable them to slip out through the door and head down to Honeydukes before the rest of the students arrived, and by the time they _did_ Harry and his companions were purchasing their own candy, before heading out to look at everything else.

 Almost two hours later they headed for the Three Broomsticks, having looked at everything of interest, save for Zonko's, as they were saving the best for last, and would be in there for a long time.

 Madam Rosmerta came over to their table, smiling at Sirius and handed out the Butterbeers all around. "Nice to see you in here again Sirius – and I'd just like to say that I'm sorry I ever doubted your loyalty to the light," she was gone again to serve another table before anyone else could say a word.

 They sat around the table, greeted by their friends from school as they wandered in and got drinks of their own, it was then that Harry remembered that he was going to get Elisa a sword.

 'Come on, let's go get your sword, we can meet the others later,' Harry thought to her. She looked up, grinned, nodded and quickly swallowed the last of her drink.

 A few words to their companions and they were outside and heading from a weapons smith. Elisa was practically bouncing up and down with eagerness – she'd been practicing with a wooden blade that they had brought with them from Seekers Academy, and she disliked the thing immensely.

 Harry found the shop he was after and led Elisa inside, amusedly telling her to calm down a little bit. Inside was darkened, a fire blazed in the hearth and Harry marked, with super-human eyesight that the smith stood in the corner of the shop, watching them.

 He was aware that the man would attack in a moment, it was a common practice to test warriors who entered a weapon shop, as you could never be sure if they warriors or pretenders, and Harry had two Blade masters blades crossed over his shoulders. 

 'Be ready,' he warned Elisa, 'keep back, it is me that he is interested in.'

 'Very well,' she said, sighing wearily. 'I'll leave the fighting to you, _again_.'

 'You'll get your chance, too soon, by anyone's standards,' Harry assured her. 'Don't hurry to jump into the creek, only to find a rock waiting just below the surface.'

 Forestalling any further conversation, the smith suddenly sprang forward, a sword sweeping down in an arching movement that would have open a gash from Harry's forehead to abdomen if it had it, but Harry was no longer there.

 The moment he sensed the weapon coming down, he bounded lightly to the side, unsheathing both of his blades in a swift, practiced movement, snapping one of them out to meet the smiths sword, that was now lashing forward, seeking Harry's chest.

 For almost ten minutes they danced around the shop, Harry smiled faintly, this was what he had been trained for, and he enjoyed it, though he never enjoyed fighting an enemy who he would have to kill, like most Seekers did.

 Finally he switched from defence, having worked out the smiths tactics, so that he could use them against the man.

 Now, instead of using one sword to block the move and keeping the other back in case the smith got out of the move and attacked again before Harry could get his first sword back into defence, he used the first sword to trap the smiths blade, then the second snapped forward to come to a rest against the smiths neck.

 The other man smiled at him, and lowered his blade. "Those blades of yours a well deserved, how may I help you, Blade Master?" he asked.

 Harry re-sheathed his blades calmly. "I would like to get a sword for my pupil," he replied calmly. "Elisa?"

 Elisa came forward now, watching the smith warily. "It is well you didn't hurt him, or I'd have to kill you, and I wouldn't have been able to get my blade after all," she told the man.

 The smith laughed. "Your girlfriend, lad?" he asked Harry.

 "My god-sister," Harry corrected the misunderstanding. "She is also something like a body-guard, and takes her job seriously."

 "Ah, very well then," the smith bowed to Elisa. "I do not think that it would be easy to harm you god-brother, especially not with a sword, though I would have, if he hadn't been as good as he is," he told her.

 "Fair enough, good smith. Harry told me something of why you were testing him, and since I do not think that any harm would have come to him, since he is what he claims to be, I will forgive your attempt at harm," Elisa told him.

 The smith laughed. "You've got a jewel for a god-sister there, boy," he told Harry.

 "I know it," Harry replied with a smile. "Now, a blade?"

 "Ah, yes! Of course, come miss, and we'll see what we have for you," the smith smiled at her. Elisa followed him, with Harry walking at her side, into the next room.

 "Here you are, try this one," the smith suggested, selecting a thin, strong looking blade, double edged with a thinner hilt than Harry's swords had, it should fit nicely into Elisa's hand, Harry thought, and it would be very light, as well.

 He nodded to her to try it out. She took the sheathed blade from the smith and whipped the sword out, moving it in a few patterns in the air. "It feels good," she said, and offered to Harry for his opinion.

 Taking the blade, Harry tested its weight and balance, and it's sharpness before he smiled and handed it back to her. "The smith knows his blades, Eli, this should be perfect for you."

 "The Blade Master honours my skill," the smith directed a half bow in Harry's direction.

 "How much for the blade?" Harry asked.

 "Usually, I'd say seven galleons, but for you, Blade Master, three," the mans eyes were calculating.

 "I shouldn't take so much of your profit," Harry tried to up the price a little.   
 "No, that blade is a picky one, I do not think that anyone would fit that blade as well as your pupil does, and you are a Blade Master," the smith replied.

 Harry understood this last comment – Weapon Masters were often given discounts, as their skill was legendary and there were few who wanted to bring the anger of one of their number on themselves.

 "Very well, three it is," Harry agreed with a sigh. "Though perhaps you would have some throwing knives for sale, my sister has a gift with those, so it would be a good idea, I think, to get some very good quality ones for her."

 Half an hour later they left the smiths shop, Elisa now having a sword over her shoulder and a set of knives tucked into various hiding places.

 They now headed for Zonko's to meet up with the rest of the group and stock up on prank supplies.

 Ron, Hermione and Sirius all admired Elisa's new sword, and she basked in the attention, Harry kept back and let her enjoy the moment, he himself was looking over the prank supplies with great interest, thinking of the number of things that they could do with them.

 For the month remaining until the Christmas holidays, the 'New Marauders' as they called themselves for want to a better title, caused a lot of mayhem, and still managed to find a lot of time to practice their Animagus transformations.

 Harry was helping Ron most, and Elisa was helping Hermione, who had read a lot about the transformation and so had a bit of a head start on Ron, but not that much. 

 They were still thinking of names for Harry and Elisa, Harry had been thinking on going with Lightning, but the others told him it wasn't a _nickname_ as such.

 Then Hermione suggested Ferux, which meant courageous. Harry tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn't listen to him, so he stayed with Ferux.

Elisa had wanted to keep a name like that of her father, but had, in the end, decided on the Latin word "Celeres" meaning "guard", for that was what she was, and the dog form simply made it more obvious.

 When the Christmas Holidays came, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Elisa would be remaining at Hogwarts, and Menolly was going to come for a visit. It was then that Harry and his friends hoped to have Ron and Hermione in their animal forms, because during the holidays they would have much more time to practice.

  They knew from Sirius that the Marauders had simply played the pranks that they thought up on the most amusing subject, but the New Marauders did things differently – they planned.

 They were careful not to get the blame laid on themselves, and either worked it out so that the prank was untraceable, or organised it so that the blame for it fell on someone else, preferably a Slytherin. 

 Today, they were planning a major prank for the Christmas feast that took place the night before the term ended. "Ok, so we have to make ourselves look blameless," Hermione warned as they discussed the prank amongst themselves.

 "Yeah, so Harry turns us invisible, creates illusions that what happens to everyone else happens to us, and we leave some Slytherins with nothing happening to them, of course, people will blame the people who don't change!" Elisa said brightly. "If you want to, Harry?"

 "Would I miss out on this opportunity?" Harry demanded, weird eyes dancing with delight. "I'd be only too happy to do that! Dumbledore and Sirius are the only teachers who know of my full abilities, Sirius will just congratulate us on the prank well played, and why would Dumbledore suspect us? Three of us are Prefects!"

 The group laughed. It was true that they had yet to be caught out with one of their pranks, so none of the teachers had any reason to expect it to be them.

 The plan went on, now that they knew they'd go undiscovered, as this was, in general, their first priority, unless it was only a small prank, in which it didn't matter if they were caught or not.

 Finally, the day of the feast came around and the prank was decided perfect. Harry smiled faintly as he walked down the stairs to the hall with his friends accompanying him.

 They were all looking forward to the upcoming prank, and everything was organised properly, with everyone having their own part to play. Although it rankled a little, the Slytherins would not be included in this part of the prank, the aftermath for them, however, would make it worth it.

 Entering the hall with the rest of the students, the four mischief makers headed for their table and flopped down in seats in a row along the table, the other house members joining them happily, not suspecting anything of the evenings 'entertainment'.

 Dumbledore smiled and wished everyone a happy Christmas, then clapped his hands to begin the feast – this was the signal for the Great Christmas Prank to begin.

 The first thing that happened was that all of the candles guttered for a moment, in that time, Harry made his friends invisible and replaced them with almost-identical copies, Hermione set of the prank on the Ravenclaw table which had been created earlier that day, immediately the Ravenclaws where transformed into eagles, Ron took care of the Hufflepuff's, turning them into badgers, Elisa keyed the spell that changed all the Gryffindor students to lions, and Harry finished it off with the teachers.

 Each of them was turned into a huge warty toad – the most amusing one was Dumbledore, who retained a beard and half-moon glasses.

 The Slytherins were howling with laughter, not realising that this was going to condemn them in all of the teacher's eyes when the prank was reversed in five minutes time.

 Harry cast a charm of silence around his friends as they all howled with laughter at the behaviour of the students-turned-animals, although the Gryffindors seemed to enjoying themselves, Seamus and Dean seemed to be having a roaring competition.

 Harry saw a toad that he _knew had to be Sirius, as it appeared to be __laughing, and watching a toad laugh, Harry decided, was not a pleasant experience. _

 Finally the five minutes were up and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Elisa slipped into their seats, the candles guttered again for a moment, and the houses were returned to human state – no one noticed anything odd about the Gryffindor Foursome. 

 They were too busy glaring at the Slytherins, who had _finally_ realised that they were going to get the blame for the prank – even _Snape looked absolutely furious. _

 Dumbledore looked at the table sternly. "I would like to be able to leave that prank where it was," he said, his voice was cool, not angry, but not pleased either. "Unfortunately, I'm quite aware that your fellow students and your teachers will demand that something happen to you – indeed, you cannot be allowed to think that you can get away with this any time you like. Therefore, I remove one hundred one hundred and twenty points from Slytherin house, twenty five for each of the houses, and fifty for the teachers table."

 The Slytherins looked furious and cheated, as indeed they had been, but they couldn't protest, as no one would believe them. No one even suspected that it might have been the Gryffindor Foursome, since they hadn't played any pranks and been caught by _anyone_, not just the teachers.

 With that, the feast went on with a rather subdued air from the Slytherin table. The Gryffindors grinned at one another, they'd liked being turned into lions, it seemed, and the only thing that they disliked was that the Slytherins had been the ones to do it.

 If they'd learnt the truth, Harry thought, they'd probably not care at all, especially since it had cost the Slytherins quite a lot of points. That didn't mean that they'd tell them, of course.

 Sirius looked at Harry, caught his eye, and gave a brief thumbs up, Harry grinned and nodded his head once – his godfather wasn't fooled!

 That night the four of them trooped up to Sirius's rooms, arriving before he did and flopped down on the bed to wait for him.

 He wasn't much longer in coming, bounding into the room with a grin – he knew that they'd be there. "That was _awesome!" He crowed, falling ungracefully into a chair, a grin all over his face._

 "You did everything – even managed to get my dear friend Sevi mad at his little pets!" 

 Harry laughed. "It _was good," he admitted. "And as for the planning, that was the idea."_

 "You need a better name – we've already used Marauders, and that'll tell them its you, cos I was one of the first generation Marauders," Sirius told them firmly.

 "The Awesome Foursome!" Elisa suddenly yelled, for a moment, everyone stared at her like she was insane, then laughed and nodded – this went well with them.

 "Well, Awesome Foursome! Let that be a beginning of a great mischief making career!" Sirius said, saluting them. "Now, you'd best get to bed, you'll be woken up early enough in the morning."

 This was true – there would be the normal rush of finding everything that had been left behind at the last minute on the morning, anything that they might want for Christmas, any clothes that would be needed during the holidays …

 Waving goodbye, the group headed back to their common room, looking forward to a good nights sleep and an opportunity to laugh at their house-mates rushing around everywhere in the morning.

 The holidays began with a minimum amount of fuss, Menolly arrived without difficulty and Snape was his usual glaring self … well, maybe a little worse than normal, since the 'Awesome Foursome' had turned his private chambers to a nice, bright florescent pink colour – a big improvement from the former black and dark green. 

 Severus Snape didn't seem to think so …

 The Awesome Foursome were disappearing every day, going out onto the grounds in the early morning and not turning up in the castle again until lunch time or passed.

 They went down to the Shrieking Shack to practice Animagus transformations, Ron and Hermione were powering along in the more 'theory' type work, since they'd been doing that for part of the school year too, and now it was more the mental steps that you had to take, going slowly.

 Harry was pretty sure he could get them transforming before the holidays ended, and everyone was looking forward to finding out what shapes they took.

 There were few other students who remained, those who's parents had been victims of Voldemort's attacks. The others had returned home to spend what time they could with families, for who knew where Voldemort would strike next?

 Christmas morning came fast, and Harry was woken by Elisa bouncing on top of him at five in the morning. Ron was being woken up by Hermione, who'd obviously been roused by Elisa before she came to Harry.

 "Christmas day!" Elisa yelled happily. "Come on! Let's go get presents!" She then tore out of the room and downstairs.

 "Your sister is insane," Ron mumbled, barely coherent, as he stumbled to his feet and after her, Hermione with him, not looking all that more awake than he.

 Harry shook his head and bounded past them, heading downstairs, just as awake as Elisa was, simply because he was used to waking up early.

 When they got downstairs, they found Elisa standing by the window, looking out over the snow-covered grounds, a smile of happiness on her face.

 There was a Christmas Tree beside the fire, and a huge mound of presents from various people, since they were the only Gryffindors here, even Ginny had gone back home, leaving the Awesome Foursome to have a Christmas holiday on their own, they could only assume that all of the presents were for them.

"Watch anything from Sirius," Harry warned them. "It will probably bite or do something unexpected."

 Everyone laughed at that, knowing that he was probably right. 

 A few moments later a wide awake Sirius came charging through the portrait hole, shortly followed by a sleepy looking Menolly.

 "Merry Christmas!" Sirius yelled happily.

 Ron, Hermione and Menolly rolled there eyes and fell into chairs, although any hopes of getting a little more sleep were banished when Sirius glared at them and waved his wand – a cascade of freezing water hit them – then the present opening was put off as the three of them attempted to kill Sirius.

 That took about half an hour, providing good entertainment for those who were awake. Finally Sirius was caught, got freezing water dumped on him, and then they got back to the presents.

 Sirius was grinning, not seeming at all put out by the water that had been dumped on him, and was the first person to find a present and open it.

 Harry laughed – the present was from him, and exploded in Sirius's face, colouring him from head to foot in Christmas colours. Harry had done it on purpose, and he knew that one would be the first one that Sirius got to.

 Everyone laughed at Sirius, including Sirius himself, and the rest of them got a present to open.

 Harry had never seen so many interesting magical things, all of the Young Phoenixes, those in school and out of it, had sent something, Sirius, Menolly, Elisa, Ron and Hermione had sent him multiple things, and the list of what he got would be too long to put in here.

 He did get a lot of sweets and things, since that was a nice and easy thing to find, and they would last for some time, and got Harry started on thinking up pranks to put with them, since he had so many …

 He got a Weasley jumper, as did Ron, Hermione and Elisa, Ron's was, as usual, maroon, and he was the only one of the children who _didn't_ wear it that day.

 Going down to breakfast several hours later, Harry was surprised to see Narcissa looking incredibly happy about something, although for a little while he couldn't tell what.

 It turned out she'd gotten the rest Christmas present ever – her son had woken from the coma and was moving faster now along the long road of recovery.

 "It's almost a pity," Ron remarked. "But life here without our old friend Draco Malfoy wouldn't be that fun …"

 "Quite right. Besides, maybe he'll be nicer now!" Hermione added. "That blow to the head could hardly have done him good, and maybe it made him lose his memory."

 "That would be interesting," Harry agreed, sitting down at the single table in the room, the few other students and the teachers took up the rest of the space.

 Harry was glad to note that Professor Trelawney had not seen fit to grace the hall with her presence, as she was still annoyed with Harry for a) not dying and b) dropping Divination.

 Harry couldn't care less, but now, whenever he saw her, she gave loud exclamations of sorrow, claiming that she had seen a very violent and painful death in store for him.

 The last time this had happened was in a corridor full of students, and Harry's reply had been a calm, "what more could a Seeker ask for?"

 Harry had had the last laugh that time, but it meant that the Divination teacher was more eager than ever to see him die. Harry wondered what would bring his death, old age or battle wound. Or something else entirely.

 'No one can foretell the death of a hero,' his mother's voice came to him. 'For a hero will have many deaths, and it is those deaths that make him who he is.'

 'What do you mean by that?' Harry demanded of her.

 'One day, my son, one day soon you will have the answers to your question, but I cannot guarantee that you will like it, and you will probably wish that you had never been told. Until that day comes, I can tell you nothing,' came the elusive answer.

 Harry felt like snarling aloud, but that would disturb the other students at the table, and he had no suitable excuse for doing so. He shook off the thoughts and emersed himself in the conversations and eating of the Christmas lunch. 

 Late that night, when all the castle was sleeping, Harry lay awake, his mind plagued with thoughts and doubts that he could not quell. Finally, after hours of tossing and turning, he rose and slipped from the dormitory.

 Going down to the common room, he found darkness, the fire had died down to glowing coals that hardly lit the place, but his unnatural eyesight let him avoid anything that could trip him up, as he made his way to the window.

 Looking out, he saw the sky covered in heavy clouds, snow falling gently down through almost still air. Calling on his Elemental powers, he sent wind dancing amid the snow flakes, sending them in swirls and dances through the air.

 He didn't know how long he stood there, but suddenly he was aware of Elisa awakening and coming downstairs to him. "Your parents keep many secrets from you, but perhaps they are right Harry, and you will find that knowing the answer was worse than wondering at it," she told him softly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

 "Curiosity may have killed the cat, but will it kill me?" Harry said, a faint smile playing at his lips. "Only time will tell, for time answers all questions, to the good or bad of the asker, whether we want to know or not."

 "Exactly. So stop worrying about that which you will know when you are ready to, and get some sleep Harry! Of all of us, you need it most, your destiny will be hard, and Voldemort is far from gone. Rest, and keep your strength up, be ready to fight, within yourself," she rested a hand for a moment on his chest, above his heart. "Sleep now!"

 Then she was gone, heading back to her own bed.

 Harry let her words play through his brain, continuing to play with the snow and the wind, he did not feel the need for sleep, and looking inside himself, he saw that he had never been stronger, but how long would that strength last?

 The question aroused some half remembered information, and Harry smiled faintly, knowing that he would never be able to sleep now, until he had found what he was looking for. 

 Changing form, a giant black panther suddenly slipped from behind the portrait that led into Gryffindor Common Room, a portrait that was devoid of an occupant, Harry noted to himself, bounding gracefully downstairs, and heading for the library.

 The castle was deserted, and there was no difficulty in getting downstairs to the library undetected, without even an invisibility spell.

 The Library was as silent as it always was, but it too seemed empty and eerily quiet, which seemed to Harry odd. Maybe it was just that the whole castle felt empty, as devoid of occupants as it currently was.

 The panther shook its head as if to clear it and looked thoughtfully at the shelves. 'Mum! Dad!' Harry called out to them. 'Do either of you know where I could find a book on ways to store magical power?'

 'In the Restricted Section,' his father replied immediately, and Lily began yelling at him for encouraging his son to go somewhere he wasn't allowed.

 'Relax you guys. Dumbledore gave me permission to go in there whenever I wanted to, and get any of the books that I needed,' Harry told them with a faint sigh.

 'Oh.'

 Shifting form back to human, Harry padded across the library and entered the Restricted Section. He remembered the first time he had come there, the books and had seemed tell him to go away, but now they welcomed him.

 Walking through the shelves, he searched for a likely title, and suddenly something caught his eye. Down in a far corner, there was an odd look to the bookshelf there, wider than anywhere else, with different markings on it.

 Harry immediately knelt beside it, a dagger in his hand, he tested the edges, and found the pins that held it in place, and a few quick thrusts with the dagger and the wood came away in his hands.

 Behind it was a small space, a few books shoved into it, apparently willy-nilly, but Harry knew better than that.

 'What are they?' Lily asked, curious.

 Harry reached in and took them out, there were three, and two of them, when he flipped through, were written in a language that he had never seen, although it looked a good deal like the Atlantean's.

 Looking at the third book, Harry smiled – "bingo" he whispered.

******************************************************

There you go! Find out what Harry learns in the next chapter! In the meantime, reviews make the chapters come faster!

Sorry, I can't put the thank you's up for this chapter – ff.net isn't letting me see any of the reviews that have been sent since June 6th, though I KNOW that I have received a lot of them since then.

Please review for this chapter, and when ff.net has the reviews working properly again, I'll put the thanks up for any chapters that I missed out on!

~WolfMoon~


	22. Chapter Twenty One

Sorry about this people, I reorganised my system of labelling chapters, so I orginally uploaded the wrong one, to those of you who read it before, I appologise, this is the correct version!

Last Chapter Ending:

Looking at the third book, Harry smiled – "bingo" he whispered

Chapter Twenty-Two:

 Harry headed out of the Restricted Section and sat down at one of the tables, gently setting down the three ancient tombs of magic, he smiled faintly.

 Pulling the one that he could read to him, Harry noted that it was written in Latin, a language that few could read these days, though Harry had learnt it in Atlantis, which was very careful about preserving other languages.

 Opening the book, he began to read.

 Most of it, Harry could, and did, momentarily dismiss, but there were some parts that were interesting, and one of them referred to exactly what Harry wanted to do.

 _There are often among us those who are destined for greatness, and those who will be great are also powerful. A common question among those is: how can I store magic outside of my own body for future use._

_ The answers to that question are many and varied. Myself, through trial and error found that 'elemental stones', that is Stones that are made of a substance such as Unicorn Horn around them, and then filled with a pure elemental power, are the best to use._

_ It takes a powerful mage to create these, but once made, a person can pour something into them, strength, wakefulness, any type of magical power … the list goes on, and the stone will preserve them until the person calls them out again._

_ Dear reader, you have found these books, and are obviously destined to be great yourself, and I hope that you find the rest of the information here useful…_

 The next morning Elisa led Harry's somewhat worried friends straight to the library, to find him sleeping with head pillowed by an ancient open book, sleeping soundly.

 "Leave him here," Elisa said softly. "He needs to rest as much as he can – the dark is rising and he will stand in its way."

 They nodded and withdrew, even Sirius didn't argue or try to wake him up.

 Harry slept on for a little over an hour longer, and then woke with a jolt, cursing softly when he realised the time. Standing up, he gathered the books up and sent the two he couldn't read to his father's room before going to find out where Elisa was.

 "Harry! You're awake!" she said, smiling at him when he entered Sirius's chambers five minutes later.

 "So I am, no thanks to you," Harry grumbled good-naturedly. "But I found out something that I needed to, and I was just going to find you to say that I'll be busy for most of today, if not all of it. I'll be in my father's room."

 "You can't go there, yet," Sirius told Elisa. "Only Potter's or future Potter's can go there, unless something major happens, and I think that it will sometime soon."

 Elisa looked a little nervous. "No one else can go there," Harry assured her. "I will not be harmed I can promise you that."

 She nodded once, and Harry turned, hurrying away to the student potions store cupboard, having run out of unicorn horns himself. 

 Taking out four of them, since he wasn't sure how successful he'd be, nor how many stones that he'd want to make. With these in hand, Harry headed for his fathers room, the book in his arms as well.

 Up in the room little had changed. He carried his own diary, shrunk and held within a glass ball, in a small pouch hanging from his belt, and wrote in it whenever something interesting happened, and now he took it out, setting it on the table beside him so that he could record what happened with his experiments with creating the Elemental Stones.

 Taking out the book, he flipped to a more detailed page on the creating of the stone, and set a horn on the table in front of him. This was going to be difficult. 

 Catching his Elemental and Wandless powers at once, Harry entered a struggle for control against the two of his powers, and got them into order, reaching out with both to see what he could do about altering the horn.

 It exploded in his face seconds later, and Harry decided that he must have used _too_ much power, so he picked up another of them and repeated the process, though he used only a trickle of the power.

 Not enough to make it explode, but he immediately realised that it wasn't enough. Frowning, instead of beginning again, Harry sent a stronger thread into the horn, and, to his delight, it worked.

 Touching it he could feel it's absorbing powers, and reached into himself, drawing out his magical power that was being stored in his reserves.

 It felt incredibly odd, feeling his magic draining, but he stopped the flow of it before it could seriously affect him. He reached out and touched the stone.

 Beneath his fingers, he could feel the power that he had put there, and he could sense that he could remove it at need. Smiling, Harry took his hand away and took out another of the horns and repeated the process.

 This time, he drained some of his strength into the horn, and it left him feeling quite worn out. 'You shouldn't do any more of those horns for a while,' Lily told him firmly. 'You can put more power into them if you must, but wait for a while before you make another one.'

 'I was going to,' Harry replied calmly, and then contacted Elisa. 'Eli, I'm going to sleep here for a while, I'll be back in the morning, ok?'

 'Ok Harry. Thanks for warning me! I'm playing chess with Ron … beating him is no easy feat.' 

 'I've known any to accomplish it,' Harry replied truthfully, and left Elisa to her game, so that he could sleep.

 In the morning Harry was very refreshed, and hardly felt the power that he'd offloaded into the stones, although he could sense the difference when he looked inside himself at his reserves.

 Standing up, Harry stretched, then bounded out of the room, leaving the horns, book and his diary momentarily on the table top.

 Elisa contacted him to say that they were heading for the Shrieking Shack, but that Harry was to eat breakfast before he came after them. 'We'll probably be down here for ages, so bring some extra food with you when you come,' she added thoughtfully.

 'Right,' Harry agreed, and headed for the kitchens.

 Half an hour later, Harry turned up, laden with the food that the house elves had given him. His friends laughed and hurriedly came over and helped him with getting into the room.

 Harry looked around him for a moment, then smiled at his friends. "I think you're ready for the transformation. Remember to be ready to fight the pain and gain control of the beast you become," he told them.

 Ron and Hermione looked delighted at the chance, and both Harry and Elisa smiled at that. "Hermione, do you want to go first? Or do you, Ron?"

 Ron immediately yelled, "I want to!" so they let him have the first go. He took a seat on the ground, Harry stayed nearby-ish, Hermione and Elisa stayed far away in a corner with a shielding charm over them. Ron couldn't see them, or hear them, or smell them, but they could see him.

 This meant that Harry was there if something went wrong, and he could get away fast if he needed to, since he knew how to Aparate. Ron closed his eyes and focused inward. 

 Harry immediately braced himself for flight, just in case Ron had some violent and large beast as an Animagus, though he didn't really think that his oldest friend would, it wasn't really in his nature.

 Harry looked at Ron, willing the other boy to succeed in changing his form, his golden-green eyes fixed unblinkingly on his friend.

 After an eternity of waiting, Harry somehow sensed that the change was about to occur, and quickly sent a thought message to Elisa, warning her and Hermione to watch.

 Suddenly red fur sprouted over Ron's face, racing to cover his entire body, which was shrinking incredibly fast, hands curling into paws, face changing rapidly into a snout, a tail growing from his tail bone and his teeth growing sharper.

 A large russet-red dog-fox bared its teeth at Harry for a moment, then looked slightly surprised, as if wondering _why it had growled. _

 Harry remained still and silent, his eyes meeting the foxes, willing Ron to take control again. Slowly, the human resurfaced in him, and Ron looked at his new form, prancing around the room in obvious delight. Then, forgetting that he had four feet to watch out for, tripped and fell head over heals.

 Harry laughed and let down his shield over the other two. "Ok Ron, change back now," he told his friend, who looked at him sadly, but changed back.

 Ron looked over his body thoughtfully, then up at Harry. "I didn't think it would hurt that much," he remarked. "But it was fun. So I'm a fox huh? That's pretty cool!"

 "Yeah," Harry agreed, smiling at his friends delight. "Now you and Elisa go over into the corner and I'll replace the shield and we'll see what Hermione becomes!"

 Ron and Elisa went over to the corner and Hermione took Ron's place on the floor, her eyes closed. Once more, Harry readied himself for a quick movement away if necessary, his eyes focusing on Hermione, willing her to succeed.

 Again, the wait took an eternity, Harry didn't blink once, afraid to miss the vital signs of the beginning of the change. It did not take as long as it had taken for Ron, Harry decided when the change finally came, and it was also more … graceful, in some ways.

 Her hair was already over her face a little, and it just seemed to spread out, become smooth and ripple out over her shrinking form. The face didn't change as much as Ron's had, because it was not as pointy – the moment he saw it, Harry knew. 

 Hermione's form was that of a cat, the change was completed not long after and the cat stood up and stretched gracefully, showing claws. It eyes watched Harry curiously, but without animosity or fear.

 The cat apparently decided that Harry posed no threat, and bounded gracefully off, examining the room carefully. Harry waited, hoping that Hermione would get in control on her own.

 Soon enough she did, and nearly sprawled because before it had been instinct that had guided her, and now it was her own thoughts.

 A moment later she changed back into human form. "Oh that was _marvellous!_" she cried delightedly. "It hurt, but the feeling of grace that cats have … but then, you are a member of the feline family yourself, so I guess that you know what it feels like."

 "I do," Harry agreed, smiling faintly as he let down the shield over Ron and Elisa, who bounded over to congratulate Hermione.

 "Now we just need to think of names for you two," Harry remarked.

 "Red!" Elisa said, almost immediately, pointing at Ron.

 "Red?" Harry arched an eyebrow. "What gave you _that_ idea?" 

 "He's all red," was the laughed response. "I think his name should be Red!"

 "I like it," Hermione put in her opinion. Ron sighed faintly.

 "It seems that I'm outvoted," he joked, "but Red is good enough. What about you Hermione? Your name is a bit of a mouthful, we need something shorter."

 "Hmm … well, we are all open to suggestions," Harry offered. 

 "Talk to dad," Elisa suggested.

 Hermione looked shocked. "Let that maniac come up with a nick name!" She yelped, in pretended horror.

 "He's not that bad," Elisa said, grinning.

 "Quite right," Harry agreed, and both said together, "he's ten times worse!"

 Laughing, they headed out from their hideaway and up towards the castle to ask Sirius's opinion of the names.

 The moment he heard Hermione's name he danced around and yelled "Mina!" (pro. Mee-na)

 "Mina?" Hermione asked doubtfully, arching an eyebrow. "Where did _that_ come from?"

 Sirius stopped dancing around that thought for a while, looking very odd with the expression his face. Finally, he shrugged expressively. "No idea," he replied cheerfully.

 The group rolled their eyes, but the name stuck, it went with Hermione well enough.

 They headed up to the Gryffindor Common room, passing Ginny on the way, who was going to the library to finish an assignment.

 Up in the Common Room they sat around in a circle on the floor and placed the Marauders Map on the floor in front of them. Reaching out, they each put their right hand on the Map.

 "We, Ferux, Celeres, Red and Mina solemnly swear that we will uphold the traditions set down by the last generation of mischief makes, and be up to no good in Hogwarts," they recited, even Hermione, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

 Her relationship with Ron, it seemed, had made her less of the teachers pet and had been good for squashing the 'prefect' behaviour a little bit, especially since they never got caught.

 The next morning as Harry was heading down for a run around the lake on his own for a while, Madam Pomfrey turned up suddenly. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy wanted to see the person who rescued him, do you think that you could …?"

 "Sure, Madam Pomfrey," Harry replied, hiding his surprise. Why did Malfoy want to see him?

 "There is one thing that I have to tell – Mr. Malfoy as almost completely lost his memory, he remembers his mother, though only just. He hasn't got a clue about Hogwarts or anything."

 Ah.

 'That blow must have been a strong one,' James remarked. 'To make him lose his memory like that.'

 Harry hurried behind Madam Pomfrey to the Hospital Wing, quickly telling Elisa of the change in plans. She said that she and the others would meet him in the Great Hall for breakfast.

 Entering the Wing, Harry walked over to the bed that Malfoy was lying on, the other boys face was more healthy now, the deathly look that had been there the last time Harry saw him was gone.

 "Hello Malfoy," Harry greeted him softly.

 The other's eyes flickered open and he focused his attention on Harry. "Please call me Draco," he told Harry, his voice soft, and Harry could hear the pain that remained in his voice.

 "Draco then. I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, since it was likely that the Slytherin couldn't remember this.

 "Harry Potter," Malfoy repeated softly, as if testing the name out. "You saved me, didn't you?"

 "Sort of. I stopped your fall and kept you alive until Madam Pomfrey could come and do the rest of it," Harry replied honestly.

 "She said something along those lines. I just wanted to thank you – I'm not sure if we were friends before, but somehow, I don't think that we were," Malfoy said, trying to remember.

 "No, we were not friends," Harry agreed.

 Malfoy shrugged painfully. "Well, even if we weren't, I wanted to thank you for saving me, and tell you what was going to happen, if you want to hear, that is," he added the last part a little hopefully.

 "Sure," Harry agreed, wondering at the change in his long time enemy.

 "My mother is taking me to Malfoy Manor … my home, I guess, although I can't remember it. She's going to have tutors come to re-teach me all of the magic and do her best to restore some of my memory, then I'll probably come back here … at the beginning of next year, maybe," Malfoy told him.

 Harry nodded, and at that moment, Narcissa came hurrying in. "Draco dear, we have to go now," she said, and glanced at Harry. "Thank you for your help, but I won't keep you from breakfast any longer," she told him.

 Harry smiled, waved at Draco and hurried from the room. 'We've gotten rid of Malfoy for the rest of year,' he told Elisa. 'He's changed though, I think it was his father's influence that made him so nasty. Hopefully when he comes back he'll be nicer than he used to be.'

 'I'll tell the others, are you coming to breakfast?'

 'Yeah, I'm nearly there, just wait a second.'

 Once the rest of the school returned, the Awesome Foursome didn't have as much time for doing their own thing, and they were all glad that they'd gotten through the Animagus transformation during the break.

 Harry spent a lot more time on his own now, though, as he was playing around with the Elemental Stones, sending strength into them, and magic, and wakefulness, which would prove very useful, he thought.

 He ended up sneaking into Hogsmeade to get some more unicorn horns, before the school started wondering where all of its supply were going.

 Elisa was the only one who really knew what Harry doing was Elisa, because she could feel some of what he did.

 To Harry, draining a little of his magic from his stores was like scratching an itch, and it made him feel a lot better, the power of his magic was building up now, because he wasn't using as much as he had before. 

 "You should practice big magics," Hermione told him, "really Ferux, I'm sure that it would help you a lot, if you used your magic outside of school work to do things."

 "Thanks Mina," Harry replied with a smile. "I'll try that."

  'Harry, Lilith and Jaram's child is to be born soon, but it's really odd, because the child is a daughter, not a son like you are,' Lily said, they'd been gone for a few days to talk with their friends in the living world in Atlantis.

 'Really weird,' Harry agreed. 'I can only think that the chains are breaking now, for some unknown reason.'

 'Not completely unknown,' James muttered, but Harry didn't hear it, he was already concentrating on something else entirely.

 The term was going well so far and the match against Hufflepuff fast approaching, but there was no tension in the air at all, for which the teachers were relieved.

 Everyone remembered the last disastrous game where the Beaters had proved that they were very capable, and the teachers were hoping that it would not happen again.

 They were not to know that it certainly would not, if the Gryffindors had anything to do with it. "Eli, Colin, aim for the broomsticks, keep the bludgers coming when you can to confuse them, but don't aim to hit, got that?"

 "Yes sir!" Both of them replied at once. Harry rolled his eyes and got the team out to practice.

 Harry felt tired that night, more so than usual. 'Mum, dad, is something weird happening?' he asked them.

 'There is a dream coming that I believe you need to see,' was the response.

 'Elisa, there is a dream coming, if you don't want to see it, don't go to sleep until you know it's over,' he told his god-sister.

 'I'm coming with you, Ferox,' Elisa replied immediately, leaving the transfiguration homework she was doing to join Harry in leaving the common room, though she herself went up the girls dormitories. 

 Harry lay down on the bed and frequent practice allowed him to fall straight into an uneasy slumber. Just as the chamber of darkness was forming, Elisa appeared beside him, her form seemed faint but she carried a blazing sword in her hands.

 "Let's see what there is to be shown," Elisa said softly to Harry, and the dream moved them closer, as if obliging them.

 Voldemort was there, and Harry bared his teeth in a silent snarl of anger – he felt no fear at the dark lord's presence, merely anger and hatred.

 They couldn't, for the moment, hear what was being said, but Elisa cried out in horror and repulsion at what happened next. A child, a girl, about five years old was hurled, sobbing, into a circle of clear space before Voldemort himself.

 Peter Pettigrew, a sharp silver knife in his hand, knelt at the Dark Lords right foot, watching with an expression of disgust himself. The speaking continued and the girl seemed to cry harder, wailing shrilly by the expressions on the Death Eater faces.

 Then the talk seemed to be over, Voldemort made a curt gesture with his hand and Peter stepped forward, the knife in his hand silencing the child's cries forever with one swift slash.

 Harry knew what was happening, though Elisa was too repulsed to even think about the idea behind the brutal murder. Voldemort was going to drain the child's magic, before she died completely.

 The dream ended.

 "Why did he do that?" Elisa yelled, racing into Harry's dormitory.

 "Come with me, I don't want anyone to overhear this," Harry replied grimly. "Sirius should know though, he can tell Dumbledore and get a better guard up for this."

 Elisa and Harry changed form, dog and panther raced through the halls, invisible to those they did not want to be seen by, though there were not many people around at this point in time. 

 It didn't take them long to reach Sirius's apartments, as they were both very fast runners in Animagus form, and when they did, Sirius flung open the door, apparently knowing it was them.

 "Ferux, Celeres!" he greeted them, grinning, in their Awesome Foursome names. "What are you doing up so late?"

 Harry changed form, "dream," he said, hurrying inside with Elisa close at his heels.

 Harry described what had happened in the dream. "We learnt about that at Seekers," Harry reminded Sirius, then explained to Elisa. "When a magical person dies, unless they are trained they give of all of their magic into a discharge, Voldemort is tapping into that and gaining all of the magic – normally it simply returns to the world to be used by someone who needs it.

 "Using that magic that isn't his, he can't do as much as he would be able to with his own, but he can use it to do small things and save his own power for the bigger, more important workings."

 "So he kills a child for their magical power so that he can save his own? That's just _sick_," Elisa gasped.

 Harry nodded. "Voldemort is a sick person … I believe he is going completely insane now, which means he has become more dangerous than ever. He must be stopped, and soon," he said, eyes cold.

 "How though?" Howled Elisa.

 "I think that the answer lies in Atlantis, which means that we must return there," Harry said musingly. "Sirius, could you inform Dumbledore of that dream and tell him that we will not be in our classes tomorrow? Tell him of Atlantis if you wish, it needs not be kept secret from him."

 "Sure kid, take care of Elisa, and you take care of him, Eli," Sirius said, and almost before the words left his mouth, both children were out of the door and running off towards the room that linked them to Atlantis.

 Sirius sighed and headed for the Headmasters office, knowing that Dumbledore remained awake long into the night, and it was only around nine now.

 'Mum, dad, _can_ I take Elisa with me?' Harry asked them.

 'Yes. You can take a woman who is going to marry into the Potter family – or a man – or a companion with whom you share a great bond. You can only take one other person, or I would have taken Sirius once,' James replied.

 'That's good,' Harry replied absently, heading up the passageway that led to the room. 'Could you go and tell Lilith and Jaram that we are coming, please?'

 'Certainly. We will meet you there,' then they were gone from Harry's head, which felt momentarily empty, but he shook it off easily enough and continued on his way.

 In the room, Elisa looked around, awed by what she saw there. Harry had many of his Elemental Stones now, and they were scattered around the place – he had been lately trying experiments with putting a single _type _of magic, so there was one stone that was red, and if you looked at it closer, you could sometimes see a flickering tongue of flame.

 There was the deep, calming sea-green of the ocean, and sometimes a wave seemed move within it, a lighter blue for air, and a deep, earthy brown for Earth.

 The light stone was a blinding white, and the dark stone a dead black colour that almost made you blanch, as if at a nasty smell. Harry was fiddling with the wall near the door, and a moment later brought out a book, smiling in triumph.

 "Here," he flipped through the pages, finally settling on one of them, seemingly at random. "Put your hand on the page," he did the same thing, and Elisa copied him.

 A moment later she felt like she was using a Portkey, then the world solidified, but it was a very different world to the one they'd been in just moments before.

 Two people were running across the ground towards them, laughing, and there were many others behind them, all rushing to greet Harry. Elisa stood off to the side, leaving her god-brother to bask in the attentions of his friends.

 She wasn't jealous of him, she never could be, not really, knowing what he felt like about his destiny and his past, the uncertainness of his thoughts and future, the pain of the fact that people seemed to turn on him all the time, when it wasn't his fault, but never listened to him when he tried to protest his innocence.

 At least that rarely happened anymore, people listened to him now, since he was powerful and knew how to use that power, and he wasn't really bound to the magical world, he could leave any time he wanted to, and he was as likely to go as he was to stay. It put people on guard.

 But she felt a little left out when all these people were eager to greet Harry and talk to him, say that they were glad he was back, while they ignored her, almost as if she was invisible.

 It was one of the two who'd been in the lead, Harry had identified them as Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram, the leaders of the Atlantean society, that broke into Elisa's thoughts.

 "Hello, you must be Elisa!" it was Lady Lilith. "Lily and James told us about you, and I thought you looked lonely. Harry may have told you, but you'll need a different name here … Elisa just doesn't tell anything about yourself."

 Elisa laughed slightly. "Harry did tell me you could be very abrupt," she admitted. "And I already have another name, which Harry assures me will be acceptable, so I hope you won't prove him wrong."

 "What name is that?" Lilith asked, smiling at her. "If Harry thinks we'll accept it, we probably will. That one could have been born Atlantean."

 "Celeres," Elisa replied.

 "Guardian? Why do you get that title?" Lilith was genuinely interested.

 Elisa launched into a tale of her relationship with Harry, and their very important bond together.

 It took hours for Harry to get away from his many friends, all of whom were very eager to have him back and talk to him, catch up with him. He was glad that Lilith had taken Elisa underwing.

 When he did finally manage to get away from his many old friends and headed straight for his old bedroom. 

 When he got there, Lilith was just leaving. "I set Celeres up with you," she said coolly. "After hearing about your bond, I thought it would best if you were not separated. She is nearly asleep now, and I suggest you do the same, we can talk in the morning, we have plenty of time." 

 "Of course, Lady," Harry said, a faint smile playing at his lips as he directed a half bow in her direction. Lilith waved him away and headed off towards her own quarters.

 She was certainly looking pregnant now, and Harry knew that it would not be long, only a month or so, before he could meet the child that was born of his 'other world parents'.

 Walking into his old room, he saw Elisa, almost asleep on the couch. "Nice place," she remarked sleepily. "I like Lilith."

 "Most people do, its one of the things that make her such a good leader," Harry replied, a faint smile playing at his lips.

 "Night," Elisa mumbled in response to that, and fell asleep.

 Harry smiled at his god-sister and protector, and copied her idea, falling asleep in seconds.

 The next morning Harry's old friend, Karan, was there to wake them up. "Pardus, Celeres, you two are going to have to separated for a lot of the next year," the young doctor said.

 Elisa looked up. "I don't mind, I know that no harm can be done to him here, unless by accident, and that nothing will last very long anyways," she said. "But why?"

 "Because Harry has been here before, he has other things to learn now, and you must learn what he did the last time he came. You do not need to know _all_ of it, but you must be taught the basics of magic here before you can move on to Harry's level – you two may have to stay for more than a year here, this time," Karan replied, smiling. "Come on now, Celeres, Pardus, Lilith will be taking you to your newest lessons."

 'It's ok, Eli, you can trust Karan, he's nice!' Harry assured her.

 'I got that feeling to, everything seems to be moving fast though,' the other complained.

 'You'll be fine. Karan's just like that sometimes,' Harry told her, getting out of his own bed. 'He'll give you some new clothes too, and take your weapons since this is your first time here,' he added as an afterthought.

 'Ok. Anything else you've forgotten to mention?' Elisa asked waspishly.

 'Probably,' was the cheerful reply, 'but I haven't remembered what they were yet, so I guess you'll just have to wait and see!'

 'Urgh.'

 Harry dressed quickly in white Atlantean style robes before heading out to find the Lady of Atlantis. It wasn't difficult, as breakfast was still on.

 "Hey Mus, Sirius," Harry greeted the counterparts of his parents best friends.

 "You back with us Pardus?" Sirius grinned.

 "I'm known more as Ferux these days," Harry replied, "it's the name the Second Generation Marauders came up with, you counter-parts daughter is called Celeres, she's with Karan now, having her first lessons."

 "Hold up there! I have a daughter?" Sirius yelped.

 "Yup, and a wife," Harry replied, grinning wickedly, for in this world Sirius was quite a player.

 Leaving his friend to have a fit, Harry approached the Lady Lilith. "Karan said that you would tell me where my lesson was to be," he remarked to the Lady.

 "So he would have, since I will have to take you there," Lilith smiled at the boy. "Don't worry if I seem a little odd, it's just the pregnancy," she added.

 "Right Lilith," Harry replied, smiling faintly. "I'll remember that. So where is my lesson going to be, and who is my teacher?"

 "Someone I don't think you've met before … certainly not here, at any rate, and someplace you have never been," was the uninformative response.

 "Right," Harry said with a faint sigh. "Let's go then," he suggested.

 Lilith held her hand, and Harry placed one of his in it, as her fingers curled around his hand, there was a sprinkling of gold light in the air and they were both gone from the Palace.

 Harry couldn't see for some minutes after his abrupt exit from the Palace, and when he could, Lilith was nowhere in sight. But there was someone that Harry _did_ recognise here – Tiger, or the other man's counterpart. 

 "Good morning, child. Pardus, Lilith mentioned your name was, correct? My name is Tigris, I will be teaching you the art of taking more than one 'Animagus' form. You are a Potter, and a Wandless and Elemental Mage, therefore you should be able to do this … it requires much power," the man – Tigris – said. 

 "What do you mean?" Harry asked, his voice low and inquisitive.

 "It takes a strong wizard or witch to perform the Animagus form without aid, and they are simply forced into the form that best shows their abilities and emotional and spiritual strengths and weaknesses. It takes a _Mage_ to have more than one form, and the ruling Lord and Lady of Atlantis are given the power to take on any form they choose when they take the throne. You, you could maybe accomplish this feat, as you _are_ very strong, but we will see … yes, we will see," was the reply.

 Harry sat down at the man's wave, thinking, _how ironic, the man who taught me to first change my form is now teaching how to take on multiple forms._

'Atlantis is like that,' Lily remarked coolly. 'You'll probably be here for a while, James learned some of the stuff that Tigris could teach, but not much, we always meant to come back, but of course, we never did.'

 'You'll probably be here for a month or two,' James added, unhelpful as usual.

 "You will do nothing but what I tell you to do, if you proceed to fast, you could kill yourself, and so damn both your worlds. You will give this task your entire concentration and you will succeed, I believe. Now, let us begin …"

*********************************************************

Not much of a cliffie … *shrugs* oh well, it'll do for the moment. Next chapter, I might jump back to Ron, Hermione, Sirius and that lot, but probably not …

Thanks To:

Destruxion, brion, JerseyGirl03, Queen of the Jungle, Ashura the Destroyer, etfrompo, Maxx77, Songbreeze Swifteye, SlytherinAtHeart, Princess55, Rachel A. Prongs, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Narcissa Malfoy, FlyingGoat, Lexi, Angelis, sew2100, Lady Prongs, Jerry, Jaded*Secrets, Clare, Dog Stars Crush, mercurygirl, athenakitty, blank, crissy, Pamela-Potter-24, snake boy, blondi gurl, Ian, and Phoenix Rising!


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

Sorry for those who read this chapter before – I changed the way I labelled chapters, and uploaded the wrong one (doesn't help having finished more than one at a time, I decided to let you wait around for a little while – mean, aren't I? Anyway, those of you who read this chapter before, please go back and read the correct 22.

Chapter Twenty Three:

 Elisa walked after Karan into a room, she was dressed in light purple Atlantean style robes, all of her weapons had been removed, though she hadn't protested, because Harry had warned her, and told her that his own weapons had been removed the first time he came here.

 "The first thing I think that you should learn is how to speak a few of the beast-languages, Harry said that you would find them interesting, so I am leaving you in the company of Sky Dawn for the next week," the doctor told her. "I regret being to busy to instruct you myself, but Sky Dawn is undoubtedly the best at Animal Languages, so I'll leave you in her capable hands – in there."

 With that, Karan hurried off and Elisa looked for a moment at the door, then cautiously pushed it open and entered the room.

 Inside the room Elisa was greeted by a very … _interesting sight. A young woman, only in her twenties or something, and _very _beautiful, was tickling the belly of a small draconic creature and apparently chattering at in its own language. _

 Elisa decided that this must be Sky Dawn, Harry had mentioned her, she remembered, her god-brother had a crush on the girl, and looking at her, Elisa could easily see why.

 "Um, hello?" Elisa said, and the woman looked up, the draconic thing whipped right-way-up and hissed.

 "Ah, you must be Celeres," the woman's voice was soft and soothing when speaking in English and her smile seemed to light up the room. The draconic thing stopped hissing, but continued to watch Elisa warily.

 "Yeah. And you're Sky Dawn?" Elisa replied.

 "That is my name in Atlantean," Sky Dawn agreed, and it was only now that Elisa realised that she hadn't spoken a word of English since she'd arrived in this alternate universe the afternoon before. "But please, call me Sky."

 "Sky it is then," Elisa agreed.

 "I am supposed to be teaching you how to speak the languages of the beasts, magical and not so, although here, all creatures have some magical ability. Let us begin with this fellows," here she gently stroked the draconic thing's head. "He is called a Litnithian, and this one has been with me since he hatched about three months ago, they are fanatically loyal creatures…"

 Elisa settled down to learn what she could from her god-brothers crush.

 Meanwhile, far away, Harry was sitting completely still, not moving a muscle as Tigris prowled around him. The man had decided that he had to test Harry's concentration.

 This decision had led to Harry sitting cross-legged on the floor at the centre of a clearing in the woods, his eyes and attention focused on a small ball that hung in the air in front of him.

 The moment his concentration wavered, the ball would drop a little, or a lot, depending. As a Seeker, Harry had done similar things often enough, and he kept his concentration focused also on the movements of his 'instructor'.

 Every now and then Tigris would lash out with fist, boot, or a switch of wood, never hard, but enough to shatter most people's concentration. But Harry was a Seeker, and he would not let himself fail his teachers by losing his concentration.

 They'd been going at this for an hour, and Harry was fairly certain that they were not going to stop for some time to come; he just hoped that he would get too hungry, or need to go to the toilet, although both of these things were probably what Tigris wanted him to ignore.

 It was a little over five hours later that they finally stopped. "Good," was the only thing that Tigris said to Harry, and Harry simply waited for his next instruction.

 "We will eat now, and then commence your instruction," Tigris told him, and walked away, Harry rose and followed silently. He'd gotten used to being in control, it did his ego good to here, doing this now, and he knew it.

 The next few days held much of the same, the torture that teachers put their students through on the pretext that they were 'being taught'.

 Harry didn't mind too much, none of it was as painful as Seekers Academy had been, and he knew that it was a test of sorts to make sure that he was worthy of Tigris's teachings, and Harry by no means wanted to fail.

 So he went through with it, uncomplaining, and he could feel Tigris's approval for him growing more with each passing day. Harry had very little time to talk to Elisa or his parents, but he was very envious of his god-sisters teacher when he found out who it was.

 Three days later, the real training began, Harry had to enter the place that he would normally go when he was changing form to the panther, but then keep his body from changing. 

 Once he mastered this, he had to change small parts of his body, at Tigris's order, Harry sensed that he was moving faster than most would, even though Tigris said nothing about it.

 Finally, a little into the fourth week of his training, while Elisa had moved on from Sky Dawn's instructions to the spells and ways of magic that the Atlantean's used, Harry was permitted to try and change his shape into something completely different.

 "Your body will choose what it wants its form to be," Tigris told him, going over that which Harry had already long since learned. "Just as it did with your first transformation. I will be waiting, shielded, until you have control of your form."

 Harry nodded once, knowing that Tigris disliked being spoken to, unless it was to say something intelligent and useful, he lived in the woods for this reason, being antisocial to a fault.

 Sitting down, cross-legged on the ground, a position that Harry had grown very accustomed to lately, Harry let his breathing slow as he entered the space in his mind that he went to before a change.

 He locked the panthers feelings behind a wall _within the bubble of thought that he controlled, and relaxed, calling on the magics that would let him change form._

 He felt it, running havoc with his body, changing things, though he did not know what to, and he waited patiently for whatever creature he became to take control. He knew that he must not try to fight it, having gone through this procedure once before for a first time.

 When the other consciousness took control, that control was absolute, and Harry lost all control that he had over his body, he _was_ whatever it was that he'd become.

 The creature sensed a stab of surprise in it's mind, and looked around for the source, seeing nothing, but all of it's mental senses screamed that there was someone nearby who was surprised and a little scared.

 Odd body resting lightly on clawed feet, tail lashing behind it, the creature turned, looking around, carefully examining every little hiding place that there was in the surrounding area, but it saw nothing.

 Suddenly it froze – it seemed that an other-consciousness was trying to take control of it, turning momentarily inwards to fight, the creature recognized the other-consciousness as a part of itself, and relaxed, allowing Harry to once more take control of the body.

 Accustomed as he already was to four feet, Harry bounded and played, and then the part of him that was whatever creature he was reminded him of the other-person that had been here.

 Stopping his play, Harry found the thought-being that couldn't be seen in the physical world, and recognized it as Tigris. He assured the beast within him that the person was fine, a friend.

 Harry felt the wariness of his teacher fading, and soon the man appeared in the physical world, Harry had to grab for control as the beast wanted to lash out.

 "I've never known anyone to take a form such as that," the man remarked to Harry, who looked up at him, confused.

 Tigris conjured a mirror easily in front of Harry, and Harry nearly fell over from the shock of what he saw.

 It was not a normal beast reflected in that mirror, it looked a lot like a wolf in body shape, the same type of muscle and legs, but it was blindingly white, covered not with fur but diamond shaped scales, delicate muzzle opened slightly to show vicious teeth.

 A draconic tail whipped around behind him, a leaf shaped sort of blade – Harry paused in looking at his new form to flick his tail gently a leaf – it _was_ as blade, and sliced through the leaf with ease, even though he was moving slowly.

 But that wasn't the best thing – those were the wings. He loved having a form that could fly, and these wings, rather like a bat or dragons in shape and the manner that they attached to the body, but the membrane that joined them was more like that of a moth or butterflies wings.

 Not in colour, but rather that there were thin lines running through, each one forming its own shape that was completely unique and independent of the rest (for those who've read them, think the dragon wings from Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern).

 Running along his back was a sort of spinal ridge with sharp points rising up here and there, and there small flares of spines with membrane between them around his paws. Even his eyes were different, instead of the normal emerald green, they were a shining silver that seemed to blend in with the form he now took.

 "If you are done admiring yourself, Pardus … Ferux would be more appropriate now, actually … kindly change back to human form – if you can."

 Harry was a little surprised that the man added this last part, but when he _did_ try to change back, he discovered that indeed he couldn't return to his human form.

 In his sudden panic, the beast took control again, but it remembered that it's other-part had said that the man in front of them was a friend, and used it's own abilities to try and help the other-part.

 Under the beasts control, Harry felt their joint mind reach out, bridging across the distance between the two beings in the glade, joining their minds together before the beast slipped back, allowing Harry to take control.

 _I can't. Why not? Is this telepathy?_ Harry sent along the link, his thoughts somewhat incoherent.

 "I do not know exactly why you cannot return to your human form, and yes, you used telepathy to communicate with me, you should be able to, while in that form, as that is one of it's magical qualities," Tigris replied.

 _What am I?_ Harry asked.

 "You are what we call a Canis Dracis," replied his teacher. "I'm sure you can guess why that is, having looked at your form. They are very strongly gifted in magic, but are, despite our best efforts, seriously declining at present."

 _What should I do?_ Harry asked now.

 "I believe you should probably return to the Palace, someone there might have an idea of how to get you changed back, and if they don't, they have more minds to put to the problem anyway, it's that way," he added, pointing. "Just fly or run one thousand kilometres that way."

 _One thousand?_ Harry yelped, nearly losing control of his form to the creature once more.

 "One thousand," Tigris appeared amused. "I'm sure that it will be good training for your body, boy, and you'd best get going, you know … it will be night soon."

 Harry bared his teeth, then fanned his wings open and bounded gracefully into air, wings sweeping down with a graceful ease as he headed for the freedom of the sky.

 _Thank you for the lessons,_ he sent down, and, glancing downwards for a moment, saw the man raise a hand in acknowledgement, then disappear back into the forest growth.

 It didn't take long to fall into the rhythm of flying, this was much easier than in his panther form, maybe it was because these bones were made for flight and were lighter than those of the hunter that his other form was.

 These wings, too, seemed better able to cope with moving through the air easier too, and Harry had to be very stern with himself to stop himself from dancing around in the air and performing all sorts of tricks – he had a long way to go, after all.

 The forest did not last long, he was surprised to discover, and was replaced by a desert – Harry knew that there were all climates on the Atlantean world differed greatly, and while they could correct them, the people certainly would never endanger a species that could be found only in particular climates.

 Swooping over the desert was easy, as there were many thermals over the sands that he only to let the air raise him and then swoop down to the next one, rise and continue in this manner. 

 It made for easy, unstressful travelling, which meant that Harry could rest his wings for the rest of the flight, which would probably be made in the night.

 Wheeling in the free skies, far from civilization, Harry let the instincts of the Canis Dracis take over, and flew freely. In the coming night he swooped off the desert, over a long grassy plain.

 Swooping down, he folded his wings against his sides and decided to try out the speed of the legs that he could now use. Muscles rippling in steely power, he sprang forwards, if there had been dust on the plain, he'd have been kicking it up.

 Streaking across the plain at speeds that blurred the eyes, Harry mentally smiled, wondering why he hadn't just Aparated back the Palace. 

 In the end he shrugged it off, it was good to test out his new form, and who knew what would happen if you tried Aparating in an Animagus form – he was fairly sure that no one had ever tried it before.

 It was mid-morning the next day when Harry arrived, tired and weary, outside the Palace, calling to Elisa to find Lilith and Jaram and get outside _now_.

 The reason for his haste was that the guards were all staring at him, and everyone was pointing and he really didn't like it much. The two woman rushed outside and joined the gapers.

 'Quit staring, it's bugging me,' Harry sent waspishly to Elisa. 'Can you ask Lilith to invite me inside so we can get away from these people and _talk_?'

 'O-of course, Harry,' she replied, leaning close to Lilith to mutter something. At that moment, Sky Dawn strode out, smiling when she saw the creature in front of her.

 ~How are you? Can I help you in any way?~ She asked him, in the language of the Canis Dracis.

 ~I wish to come inside and speak with the Lady Lilith and the visitor, Celeres,~ Harry replied, elated that she'd spoken to him … albeit not in English and not knowing who she addressed.

 ~Come in then, they just asked me to invite you inside in any case,~ the woman replied.

 Then, in English to Elisa and Lilith, "he wishes to enter and speak with you – as they are telepathic, you shouldn't need a translator, but if you, please, just call me."

 "Thank you very much, Sky. You are very much appreciated here," Lilith smiled at the woman, who blushed at the high compliment and hurried inside again.

 Harry padded past the guards, moving with a silent grace that seemed to leave the guards in awe, with Lilith and Elisa hurrying behind him.

 Harry made straight for his and Elisa's room, bounding side to lie down on the bed, resting his muzzle on his paws, silver eyes weary and frustrated.

 "Harry, what happened?" Elisa asked, still looking surprised to see him in such a form.

 'No idea,' Harry sent in response, before shifting to telepathy so that he could talk to them both at once. _Tigris was teaching me how to take several Animagus forms, and we'd finally gotten around to trying yesterday, midmorning, I think it was._

_ Obviously this was the form I took on my second try, but now I can't change out of it,_ he told them, the frustration he was feeling at the dilemma.

 "Calm down Ferux," murmured Lilith. "I am sure that we can fix this, we just have to think about it. Did Tigris have any ideas?"

 Elisa knew who Tigris was, as Harry had told her in the few spare moments he had, when he wasn't sleeping. _No, he didn't, he was telling me the truth, because I can spot a lie when I hear one, Harry replied wearily._

 "It'll be fine, but you are completely exhausted, there will be time enough for this tomorrow, you won't die before then, from being stuck in that shape, you may want to practice what magics and such you can do with it," Lilith said. "Come on Celeres, leave your brother to sleep!"

 Laughing, Elisa hurried from the room.

 Harry grumbled softly in his mind for a short time, before, with a sigh, he realised that they were right, the problem could wait and he needed sleep.

 His last thought was that Elisa was definitely prospering here in Atlantis, but then, who wouldn't? This place was the ideal health retreat…

***

At Hogwarts

***

 Ron and Hermione groaned when they heard that Harry and Elisa had left for Atlantis, "why did they have to go on a day with lessons … and especially double potions? Without Harry around with his threat to go to Dumbledore about the favouritism thing, Professor Snape is going to be absolute hell," Hermione grumbled.

 Ron had to smile, she'd gone a long way from never insulting a teacher or saying that they were wrong. "Well, at least he'll be back tomorrow," he replied. "And we _do_ have Defence, so we'll get some points from Sirius to make up for anything that Snape can take off!"

 Hermione laughed and squeezed his hand gently. He really did love her sometimes … most times … all times …

 The day started off very good with Charms, they were learning charms to change the colour of peoples hair, clothes and so on, without them actually noticing until it was pointed out to them.

 Then it went very downhill with History of Magic, picked up when Defence with Sirius came along, and they could loaded with points to see them through Potions.

 Snape still hadn't quite forgiven the Gryffindors for 'letting' their Quidditch team nearly kill his favourite student. At least Malfoy wasn't there anymore, that made things easier.

 "Where is your little friend, Potter?" Snape asked them, voice cruel. 

 It was Hermione who spoke up. "He's doing something for Dumbledore, Sir, he didn't tell us what, only that Dumbledore didn't want it known."

 Snape glared at them, as if not wanting to believe them, but Hermione _never_ lied to teacher … or at least, she never had _before._ Snape believed them, and got on with the lesson and point taking.

 Ron and Hermione left, and Ron wiped a hand across his brow in pretended relief. "I don't know how we used to cope without Harry around," he muttered, so that only Hermione would hear.

 "Neither do I. Come on, we'd better get started on that essay that Snape gave us, just so that we get a head start on Harry, otherwise he'll be finished it and wanting to play pranks with us only part way done," Hermione joked in response.

 She didn't care that Harry was faster at doing homework than she was, it didn't matter much to her, since they got pretty much the same marks.

 Ron was a little jealous of two more studious friends, but he understood that Hermione worked hard, and Harry didn't really have a choice – what he learned would mean his survival. Ron just didn't have their dedication to the work.

 Besides, Ron himself had other things to do, he was a Quidditch Player and was training with Harry to become a spy on the Death Eaters – not as Snape had, by becoming a Death Eater himself, but by hiding nearby a family that were Death Eaters and attending the meetings to listen in.

 Dangerous, sure, but that was what he wanted to do, in addition to fighting. If he _could_ become an Auror – you needed pretty high marks in Defence – he would probably give up most of the spying and just be that, but he really did feel that he needed to contribute something to the magical world.

 Hermione wasn't going for fighting or spying, she didn't think, she wanted to run for Minister of Magic at some stage, which meant that she had to get into the Ministry.

 She was probably going to join the Aurors for time, if they needed the help, and it was a good way of getting some recognition, but Hermione did _not_ see herself as a fighter.

 Hermione tucked her hand into Ron's and the pair of them headed for the library, smiling, completely lost in their own little world.

***

Voldemort's Stronghold

***

 Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord _ever was currently striding around his bedroom in the huge, black stone fortress that was his, trying to decide what to do next._

 For a moment, the odd thought of suicide occurred to him, but she shook it off. He had far to much to do to worry about death! He wouldn't die! He would _let_ himself die! He would cheat death! _He_ was the most powerful wizard alive, and he would prevent death from ever coming to him.

 He'd take over the world … and he was suddenly struck by the thought of _why do I want to take over the world_? He must be tired, or running out of magic if he was thinking like this, he thought, shaking his head slightly.

 'Ssssleep, massster,' Nagini hissed. 'You need it, sssleep now, and I will wake you when you are needed by your foolisssh followersss.'

 'Of coursse Nagini,' the dark lord hissed back – he trusted Nagini, she was the only 'person' that he would ever listen to, without severely harming them.

 The Dark Lord flopped down onto his stone throne, insane red eyes closing and breath slowing into sleep. Had one looked inside the room, one would have seen the huge snake apparently shaking its head in disgust before slithering away to find a meal.

***  
Atlantis

***

 For the next three days Harry remained in his new form, and mainly in his room, although he did come out sometimes, he didn't like it, because the people still stared at him too much.

 Should anyone enter the room, they would be met with the odd sight of a Canis Dracis reading a book, sprawled over a large bed, looking very comfortable.

 That book, if that someone bothered to check, would be about Animagi or the ability to take more than one form. So far, he'd found nothing on anything. 

 Just as Harry reached out a paw to turn the page carefully, the door burst open and Elisa bounded in. "Any luck?" she asked, flopping down onto her own bed.

 'No. Nothing at all. It seems that people do not usually take on 'magical' forms, and certainly not one such as mine,' Harry responded.

 "You never did explain much about your form, I know that you've been reading up on it while I've been learning all this stuff that they insist I need to know," Elisa remarked.

 'You know of phoenixes and unicorns, obviously, they are both very pure magical creatures, are they not?' Harry replied, and continued after Elisa's two nods. 'The Canis Dracis is very like both of them in terms of purity. It also sometimes has the viciousness of a dragon, when itself or it's friends are threatened, for it is as loyal as a phoenix is.

 'Our levels of magical power are immense, but they cannot be used for dark spells or deeds, I could not use my magic in this form to kill someone, but I could attack and kill them physically …. Its kind of weird, but hey, it's pretty cool too!'

 Elisa laughed. "Sky Dawn is eager to meet you again tomorrow, she wants to ask you a load of questions about breeding, living, hunting, ect habits of Canis Dracis," she told him.

 The Canis Dracis grinned, which is a very odd sight. They'd told Sky Dawn the truth about what had happened, with the hopes that she'd be able to help, she was very happy to have been included in such a secret, and while she was diligently searching for something to help, she also loved to pound Harry with questions about his form, as there was little known about them.

 Shoving a bookmark into the book with his nose, Harry closed it, bounded lightly off the bed, unfolding his wings for a moment and stretching, before placing his front paws on the bed and very carefully lifting the book with his mouth to lay it on the floor.

 "Need a hand with that?" Elisa asked, amused. Harry merely glared at her and bounded into the bathroom without a word to have a long bath.

 He'd found that his scales, when they could bits of dirt between them, itched horribly, and he didn't really want that, as Sky had mentioned that he could tare out scales by itching that way. 

 This meant that once or twice a day he would have a long bath, he'd learnt that the Canis Dracis could use it's magic to breath under the water, and so often went to sleep, curled up under the water.

 He'd nearly given Elisa a heart attack when she'd first found him that way, and since then they'd often laughed over the incident.

 Today, though, he was talking with his parents, trying to work out what had happened. 'Any ideas?' He asked them, not very hopeful.

 'Not a clue,' James replied cheerfully. 'But that doesn't matter much, you're getting very skilled at using this form to do what you need to, so why bother trying to change back?'

 Harry rolled his eyes at his fathers words and submerged his head, closing his 'inner lids' this was another thing that he'd discovered about his form, it had several eyelids. 

 The very first was a transparent one that prevented anything getting into the eye, from the Canis Dracis's instincts, he'd gathered that these were for use when swimming, moving in strong winds and when walking through loose stuff like sand.

 This way Harry could still look about him under the water, as everything looked different when viewed through the clear liquid. Rolling over on his back under the water, wings folded tightly against his back so that he didn't foul them, Harry played about in the water, splashing around and making sure that he rubbed any loose dirt and grit out of his scales.

 Finishing this fun part of his task, he settled again, once more on his front, paws curled beneath him and he used his magic sparingly for the rest of it.

 He enchanted a loofah to scrub at the scales and get out anything that hadn't come off in his play before. It was a very nice feeling, all his little itches being scratched and Harry nearly dozed off, while still talking to his parents. 

 All too soon the enchanted loofah had finished its job, and now Harry raised himself from the delightfully warm bath and bounded down to land on the mat beside it, calling a towel.

 Enchanting his as well, he stood, tall and still as the cloth whipped over his body, drying it and again getting into cracks that the loofah may have missed, not that there were any.

 He didn't use the towel to dry his wings, as that could break the thing, delicate membranes, for that he simply used a charm.

 These were the few things that he used the magic this form commanded to do anything, as he found it impossible to do for himself and he didn't want to simply use straight magic.

 Stretching, Harry bounded back into the bedroom, Elisa was drowsing, almost asleep by this stage and soft music filled the air around her.

 Harry smiled faintly and sprang lightly up onto his bed, eyes drifting closed as the blankets settled half over him and his eyes closed as the welcome arms of sleep folded around his mind.

 For a time he just hung there, warm and dark, Harry felt great contentment here, but then it was falling away, being replaced by dreams.

 _Harry was standing in a place, Atlantis, and Harry was disgusted to realise that he was still in the form of the Canis Dracis. Looking around, he noted that there were no people in this dream world._

_ Shrugging, since nothing seemed to be happening, Harry wandered around the place, poking here and there, and then he took off into the air to look around from up there._

_ Silver eyes blazing with happiness, he was sweeping and diving, playing in the air, manoeuvring this way and that dancing around with joy making his chest nearly burst._

_ Suddenly he could feel change again, and he landed, as he was not sure what was going to happen, he decided that it might be safer to be on the ground, especially if there would be people around when the change had come._

_ He stood, completely still as the world remodelled itself, and when it was finished he looked around again, and with a feeling of surprise, realised that he recognized this place too – Earth._

_ There no people here either, even though he was now standing in the middle of __London__, and so Harry returned to his play in the air, wondering what this dream meant._

_ If he was actually _dreaming_ he thought that he'd have at least given himself a human body, and so he wondered if this was a dream like those that he'd had of Voldemort._

_ When the changes looked like they'd be coming again, Harry settled on the rooftop of the CD store that was located on one side of the Leaky Cauldron. _

_ Harry stayed as he was as the world around him changed again, returning to the warm darkness it had been before. He was standing on something, and, looking down, realised that it was a platform of firm air._

_ He stood still and waited again for something to happen, really beginning to wonder what this was about. In front of them he saw two golden orbs seemed to be traced onto the blackness, revolving until they were full spheres._

_ This remained all that he saw for a time, and then lines, now white, began to trace on the spheres themselves, running in jagged lines to form little sealed off parts._

_ With a shock, he recognised the sphere to his left as earth, the lines had formed the countries and islands and such, and after a while he decided that the other one must be Atlantis._

_ The spheres were spinning now, faster and faster, the white lines of the countries blazing brilliantly, coming outwards. Finally, just as Harry was getting _very_ dizzy, they stopped._

_ Now the lands and seas were filled in, and Harry knew that his guess was correct, the sphere on the right _was_ Atlantis, and the one on the left was now even more definitely Earth. _

_ Now they were turning slowly, but still turning, he watched as night came to __Britain__, and then day, the shadows of the night reflected on Atlantis just as it was on Earth._

_ Watching closely, Harry failed, for some time, to notice that he was moving closer to them, and as he moved closer, the spheres grew a little smaller._

_ He noticed only when he actually stopped moving forwards, and as he stopped night came again to __Britain__. He'd watched a whole day go by on the image of Earth, and one of the image of Atlantis._

_ Now he waited again. What was going to happen _now_, he wondered._

_ It wasn't too long before it began to happen. Golden light gathered at __Britain__ and the Atlantean palace, spreading out, though for a while he didn't realised what for._

_ Finally it clicked, as they arched away from their respective worlds and met, forming a bridge of sorts between the two worlds. Harry could see people standing over that bridge, and, even at the distance they were from him, he recognized them as his ancestors._

_ What did it mean? He could see his parents there, both of them, but he himself was not – and there was a slight gap in the golden bridge, right in the centre. _

_ Then a voice rang out, echoing in the darkness. _This is your destiny. You will fulfil the pledge of your family. You are the One.

 Harry leaped upright, silver eyes flashing with confusion and fear. What had the voice meant? He could still see the image of the planets, joined by an almost complete bridge, but he still did not understand what that meant.

 Looking around him, he saw the gathering light, it was approaching morning time now, he realised, that dream had taken up the whole night. 

 On the other bed, Elisa still slept deeply, not picking up on the thoughts that raced through her god-brothers head as he struggled to understand what it was he had to do.

 Harry remained sitting, still and weary, somehow completely unrefreshed from the nights sleep.

 It was some time before Elisa stirred, and Harry could feel her gradually waking up, the link that they'd forged once amplified by the telepathic abilities of the Canis Dracis.

 But it was not natural happenings that actually got her completely awoken, as the door burst open and Sky Dawn and Lilith skidded to a halt in the middle of the room.

 Elisa shot upright, surprised, reaching for weapons that were no longer there, Harry jolted, but he didn't move more than that, watching the two woman who were panting for breath.

 "We – think – we – know – what – to – do," Sky panted out.

*********************************************************

A challenge for all you artists out there! If you want to draw a Canis Dracis from the limited description I've given here, feel free! Send them to anara@mullumonline.com (my mum's email) because mine is pretty close to full. Since I'm making a web page at the moment, I'll put the pictures up there when I get them! If there is anything else you wish to draw from my story, you can do that too, and send them to the same address!

 Hmm. Looks like Harry might get back to human form soon *grins impishly* but that'll wait for the next chapter, no? While you are waiting, be nice and review!

Thanks To:

Athenakitty, anja, Rachel A. Prongs, Dream Sequencer, Destruction, SlytherinAtHeart, Maxx77, JerseyGirl03, Xirleb70, White Rider, LadyD, Lady Prongs, Lita of Jupiter, Silver Scale Serpent, Narcissa Malfoy, Headmaster Cromwell, Songbreeze Swifteye, Shadow of a Cat, Queen of the Jungle, fizzlebug49, Prongs, Potter313, and Phoenixrising! 

~WolfMoon~

fizzlebug49 – no, Hermione being a cat doesn't REALLY have much to do with the polyjuice potion, although I admit that is where I got the idea from. I just liked Hermione as a cat. 

Oh, and the fighting academy will be starting soon, and Harry's phoenix is NOT forgotten, you'll meet him again when Harry and Elisa go back to Earth. Harry and Elisa don't get together, nor do Harry and Blaise Zabini, although I admit that is an interesting relationship … anyway, I'll see you all next chapter!


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I will be continuing this story to its conclusion, even after the next book is released. I appologize to Ian, who gave me a really good idea, but I unfortunately have most of the rest of the story planned out, and I can't really fit that parcticular new character in! Great idea though, Ian!

Chapter Twenty Four:

An hour later Harry stretched human arms and back in delight, it had been incredibly simple, the answer to his problem, and everyone was wondering why they hadn't thought of it before – all he had to do was change from the form of the Canis Dracis to that of the panther, and from there to human.

 In test, Harry had changed to Canis Dracis again, but once more could not return to human form, and had to go through the other forms first. 

 "I wonder why that is?" Mused Lilith. "I'll have to contact some of the other rulers, and see if anyone knows something about it."

 In all of the commotion, last nights dream was shoved aside in Harry's mind, and forgotten for the time.

 "Now, I have a feeling that Tigris will want you to continue trying to take on new forms, since he's helped you through the first one, now you have to make your own way forward," Lilith said. "This _shouldn't happen again, not being able to change back, but if it does, you know the trick of it now."_

 "So I do," Harry agreed, mildly amused. "I only had to go through the whole process from the very beginning and spend what feels like forever out of human form."

 The others laughed and they went on their separate ways, Harry heading to catch up with Karan, since he'd only been in the palace for a day in human form, and he did want to catch up with his long time friend and companion.

 Elisa and Sky wandered off together. "A remarkable young man, your brother," Sky remarked. Elisa smiled, knowing that Harry would be ecstatic that Sky had said that.

 "He is at that. In our world more so even than this," she told the other woman.

 "How so?" Sky was obviously curious.

 Elisa began the long tale of her god-brothers life, Sky's eyes widening with every new adventure or quest, Harry half listened in Elisa's mind, smiling to himself at the effect his story had on the young woman that he thought he loved.

 Harry walked through the Palace with Karan, trying not to think about what Elisa and Sky were talking about, but talking to his old friend took up a lot of his concentration.

 "We've been doing a lot since you left," Karan remarked. "We are concentrating more than ever on our magics and development of new charms and such, and one of them, I really need to talk to you about … privately."

 Intrigued, Harry followed Karan to the room that Harry had first become acquainted with in Atlantis – the doctors surgery.

 "What is this 'big secret' that you are about the let me in on?" Harry asked, feeling a little amused by Karan's sudden secretive behaviour.

 "I have to make sure that no one is going to over hear us, this is only known by me, the others who worked on it were all Obliviated, at Lilith and Jaram's request," Karan replied.

 Harry whistled, "big then."

 "Very big," Karan agreed nodding. "Sit down please, this may take a while to explain."

 Mystified, Harry obeyed, perching on the bed that he had once lain on to be healed of the inner troubles that he had.

 "You know of the Avada Kedavra curse," Karan began, eyes grave. "It is a curse that kills the body, and usually the soul. From what you've told me about Voldemort – Tom Riddle – made a spell that set his soul free, rather than leaving it to die with the body, which he could replace."

 "So, you're saying that Voldemort's soul will live on, no matter how many times I kill him?" Harry asked, feeling a sinking sensation in his stomach.

 "Not quite. You just have to kill his soul first," Karan corrected him. "Rather like a … Dementors kiss, I believe it is called, we don't have Dementors here …"

 "Sensible of you," Harry dryly.

 "So, with the permission of Lord Jaram and Lady Lilith, myself and a team of others have been labouring since you were gone to devise a spell to kill the soul first, and then the body … all the others had their minds wiped, if I speak of this to anyone but you, a magical power will rebound and destroy me – that is the lengths that we have decided necessary to keep the information secret, and to help you. Such violence is totally against our society," Karan said.

 Harry was overwhelmed by the generosity of his these people, and he leaned over to rest his hand on his old friends shoulder. "When I've taught it to you, I'll have the information wiped from me mind, I don't want to know of it."

 "Thank you so much, Karan," Harry whispered, knowing what it must have cost the peaceful Atlantean to do this for him.

 Karan smiled. "You are quite welcome Harry, but you must understand this – the casting of this spell could easily kill you, it'll use a _lot_ of magic, and you'll only be able to perform it once in a life time. So be careful about when you _do cast it."_

 "So how am I supposed to learn it, if I can't cast it?" Harry asked, now feeling confused.

 Karan smiled mirthlessly. "We'll have to do a memory transfer, and that's pretty dangerous in itself, though less so here in Atlantis, I'm lead to believe, than in your world."

 Harry paled slightly. Memory transfers most often left people gibbering and magic-less in his own world, neither fates that Harry liked, nor wanted to have happen to him.

 "If that is the only way, then that is the only way," he said finally, shuddering slightly.

 "I don't particularly want to do this either, but we'll have the very best team of people working the spells, all of them Imperial Mages," Karan told him.

 Harry relaxed a little, Imperial Mages would know what they were doing, no one could reach that status who wasn't the very best that the world had to offer.

 "When are we going to do it?" He asked, not letting any more of his uncertainty show.

 "As soon as bloody possible," Karan muttered in response. "I really dislike having this information and I cannot wait to be rid of it!"

 Harry smiled humorously. "I like that idea – that way I don't have time to dwell on impending doom."

 "No need to be like that – if you must be pessimistic, be so in your own mind and don't make me get started," Karan retorted.

 Harry smiled faintly, and the moment of seriousness passed, the incident almost forgotten, but there was a foreshadow of doom over the rest of their day.

 That night, Harry told Elisa what he was going to do – he owed her the truth, and she appreciated the danger as much as Harry himself did. "But the risk is worth the potential gain," she remarked for him.

 "Exactly – I can't let any opportunity to get Voldemort once and for good pass," Harry agreed. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the kids around here, the ones you haven't met, and we can play a game of Quidditch!"

 This immediately lightened the mood, and the two teenagers raced off, happy just to be in each others company, doing something they loved. 

 Three days later, Harry was called to the Council Room, where all of the leaders across the world of Atlantis met up occasionally to catch up with the news and present any problems they might think others had the answers to.

 Harry knew immediately that they were going to perform the memory transfer, and he was feeling very nervous. 'Calm down, we are here,' Lily instructed him. 

 Harry forced his body to calm, his mind taking control, banishing the thoughts of all outcomes but the positive ones. Walking forward to the centre of the room, he could feel his tense body relaxing, months at the Seekers Academy taking control over his reluctant body.

 He could see that Karan was shaking and sweating, and rested a comforting hand on the others shoulder. "Calm down, Karan, it'll be fine. These guys are the best, remember!"

 Karan gave him a water smile, but his shaking calmed a little bit. Harry smiled faintly and then turned his head to watch as Lilith and Jaram entered the room.

 There were few words exchanged before the spell got right on the way, it seemed that everyone wanted to get this over and done with, and Harry knew he was in safe hands.

 It still bit deep into his mind to have to trust anyone with something like this, but he knew how important it was, and so didn't make any fuss at all.

 He was sat comfortably in a chair, Karan beside him, and the Imperial Mages moved into a circle, rotating around the pair of them, chanting softly.

 He sat still, feeling magic in its raw form caressing his body, swirling and dancing in the air, though his eyes could not quite see it, slowly the magic was formed into a spell of sorts, and crept towards his mind. 

About to fight off the invader, Harry forced his mind to allow the foreign magic to enter his brain and then leap out, rather in the same manner than the golden light had formed the bridge between Atlantis and Earth.

 Then there was a slight stab of pain and Harry felt his mind linked to Karan's. The young doctor was very scared, both for his own life and that of his friend.

 Accustomed to having his mind linked to someone else's, Harry sent waves of comfort and peace towards his friend, and was rewarded by the almost instant relaxation.

 _Fight it and we will both be destroyed,_ Harry remarked. Karan sent a feeling of agreement back, not knowing quite how to speak with words in another's mind.

 The magic was back, Harry could feel it flicking through Karan's mind, as a secretary flicks through the many papers in her folder, searching for the correct one.

 Then it stopped – they'd found the file, now information was streaking through the link between Harry and Karan's mind, there was a burst of information and suddenly all Harry knew was darkness.

**

AN: I wish that this was the end of a chapter *grumbles* perfect place for a cliffie … but unfortunately, I've only got 1700 words, so I can't stop YET!

**

 Harry woke up, groggy, he wasn't sure exactly _how mush later, but he had a fearful headache._

 "Oh good!" Elisa's voice, pitched low, though it still hurt his head, reached his ears. "You're awake, I'll go and get the Imperial Mages … they want to give you a proper healing, but thought it best to wait for you to wake up."

 Harry winced as the sound of her voice made his head ache all the more, and she seemed to pick up on it, because she rested a hand on his shoulder, conveying wordless sorrow for her actions, but, thankfully, did not try to mind-speak him. 

 She left, the grating of the chair across the ground, and the dull 'thump' that her feet made as she walked of the room made his head pound and stars dance in front of his eyes.

 This is one killer of a headache, he thought to himself, and thankfully, his father had the good sense not say anything in return to that thought.

 A moment later, Harry was aware of another presence, robed completely in white, gliding across the floor, feet making no sound whatsoever.

 Harry was insanely glad of this, because otherwise his head would be aching. The person, he wasn't sure whether it was a male or female, glided over to him, extending it's hands towards Harry's head. 

 For a moment, Harry thought that he should duck, or move, or _something_, then remembered that he was in Atlantis, where no one would harm him.

 Cool hands touched Harry's scalp, and immediately the pain receded. Massaging gently, the white glad figure seemed to pull the pain up out of Harry's skull and get rid of it completely.

 Then the hands receded, and the figure glided off, leaving Harry feeling tired, and moments later he fell back into a deep, healing sleep.

 Elisa watched her brother sleeping, his body so relaxed, his expression so gentle, that she realised just how much of a toll his life had exacted.

 She sighed softly and brushed the hair from his face, just watching the peaceful side of him that had only just begun to emerge, here on Atlantis.

 With one last look at her brother, Elisa turned and hurried from the room, pausing a moment to glance at Karan, who was in a similar state to Harry, though he looked rather the same sleeping as he did awake. 

 It must be Atlantis, Elias decided on her way out the door, pausing to bow carefully to the Imperial Healer Mage who was tending her brother and his friend.

 The Mage nodded it's head – it was impossible to tell what sex _any_ of the Mage's were. They simply existed.

 Elisa hurried out, and nearly ran into Sky, who was evidently waiting for her. "How is your brother and the doctor?" Sky asked her, as they made their way through the corridors of the Palace.

 She and Sky had become great friends in the short time that Elisa had been in Atlantis, and the Atlantean woman had taken the off-worlder under her wing as quickly as Karan had once taken Harry.

 "They are doing as well as can be expected – the Mage says that they should both be awake and moving around very soon," Elisa replied, smiling happily.

 Sky smiled with her as they made their way outside, to stand beneath the white, hot sun and watch the well-cared for land that was rarely to be seen in Elisa's own world.

 "Tell me of Earth?" Sky repeated a much overused question. 

 "What do you want to know?" Elisa asked in response, smiling faintly as they played out the well worn tracks of the conversation.

 "Tell me of your school," Sky this time asked.

 "Hogwarts, how can one put Hogwarts into words?" Elisa mused. "Hogwarts is a huge castle, almost as large as this Palace, with huge towers and deep dungeons, classrooms, halls, chambers … everything. It has a huge lake in the front of it, with a giant squid. There is a forest on the grounds that is really dangerous and scary, it's called the Forbidden Forest, and it's just that, forbidden.

 "Then there's the …" Elisa let herself get lost in the memories of home, translating the beauty of her life there into mere words that failed to do justice to the place, but Sky was enchanted by them.

 Elisa wished that her other half would wake up again, she desperately wanted to speak with him again, as they hadn't had much of a chance since they'd come here, but she didn't let her sadness show in her voice, not wanting to upset Sky.

 It was three days before Harry was up on his feet, though he wasn't allowed to do much physical work.

 "I'll have to work three times as hard to get back to my former physical prowess," he grumbled privately to Elisa at one point. "Oh well, what's to life but the challenges?"

 Elisa laughed at him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't try to do so much, Harry. Rest, you've earned it. You've found a way to destroy Voldemort once and for all, you've discovered that you have the ability to change form into several shapes and you've even been stuck in an animal form for over a week!" She said. 

 Harry looked at her for a moment. "You know," he said slowly, "I think I will."

 And so they did, they spent the rest of that year being happy, playing Quidditch with friends, racing each other in their Animagi forms, Harry learnt knew forms – a stag like his father, a golden eagle, it's blazing green-gold eyes alight with joy as it swooped and danced through the air.

 He never had the problem that he'd had with the Canis Dracis form, though, for which he was very grateful.

 Elisa continued her lessons, learning the things that Harry already knew while her brother took a holiday from his responsibilities that he so badly needed.

 "What are you doing today?" Elisa asked him one morning, just passed halfway through their year in Atlantis.

 "I just remembered something from when we came, we left so suddenly that I forgot all about it …" Harry replied musingly. "Those books that I found in the Library at school, written in a language I suspect is one from this country, though I'm not completely certain …"

 "Well get them out and let's go see Lilith!" Elisa said impatiently, now that she too remembered the books, Harry had shown them to her just before the journey.

 Harry rummaged around for a little time, as the books had gotten to the bottom of his trunk, which was why he'd never seen them when he went to his trunk – though that didn't happen very often at all, since there was little in it to interest him any more.

 Grabbing the books, Harry and Elisa then made their way to Lilith, who was sitting outside, hands resting gently on her growing belly.

 "Ferux, Celeres! What a lovely surprise! How are you this morning?" Lilith was obviously in a good mood this morning, which was very important.

 "We've got some books that I found in Hogwarts, hidden in the Library. Two of them, which I brought with me, are written in a language that I do not recognize as one of Earths, and it seemed vaguely like the Atlantean script that I already know. I was wondering if you knew the language?" Harry said in a rush.

 Lilith raised an eyebrow delicately. "Well, show me the book, Ferux, and I'll tell you," she told him, smiling.

 Harry grinned back and offered it to her. She took the book, and immediately sighed heavily. "Is something wrong?" Harry demanded quickly, surprised.

 "Not really. I know the script, but I cannot read it – it's in the language of a nomad tribe of priests and shamans, who dislike anyone knowing their script who is not one of them … you'll have to ask them to teach you how to read it, or to translate it for you," she replied. "Show me the other, though I think that we'll find them both to be in the same," a glance over the other book quickly confirmed this statement.

 "So what should I do?" Harry asked.

 "Like I said, you'll have to ask them for help, and that means you'll have to find them, and I can only give you so much aid in that," Lilith replied.

 "Well, I think that it's important that I find out what is written in those books, so I'll have to get to those priests," Harry said after a little thought.

 Lilith sighed. "Very well, the only information I can give you is that they are in the far north, they live around a large mountain, snow-capped, with a huge lake in front of it. You'll find them in camps, look for the one that has a huge white tent at the centre, this is the leaders tent. They speak normal Atlantean to those who do not known their language."

 "My thanks, Lilith. I'd best get started," Harry said, smiling at her. 

 "One last think, since you'll be travelling in Animagus form, take only one change of clothes, I've no doubt that they'll provide you with their own," Lilith told him.

 Harry smiled at her, half bowed, and changed form smoothly to the Canis Dracis, bounded gracefully into the air, huge wings swooping down to carry him up, the books suddenly disappearing from Lilith's hands, reappearing on Harry's back, between his wings.

 _Goodbye for now, Lilith, Celeres, I'll talk to you soon!_ He sent to them, before swooping out of sight, wings beating in a smooth rhythm, he headed away from the Palace, into the unknown world of Atlantis, which, apart from Tigris's place and the journey back, he'd never seen.

 His speed was easy, and he felt alive – he'd never been stronger, his weakness after the memory transfer had faded completely.

 His mind shied from the idea of that memory transfer, he'd locked the memory away in the depths of his mind so that he was not have to think about it until it was needed.

 Karan had pretty much gone straight to Atlantis's equivalent of an Obliviator to have his memory modified, he didn't want to wait any longer than necessary to have it done, so anxious was he to get away from the 'unclean' information.

 Now, though, Harry was concentrating on where he was going, not the past. He'd have to be careful to rest his wings and run the moment he smelt the sea in his sensitive nostrils, and he'd have to stop over night as well, probably, so that he would be well rested by the time that he had to fly – he wasn't sure how long the sea would go for. 

 With thought firmly in mind, Harry flew on, losing himself in the rhythm of his flight.

 It was close to sunset when Harry reached the sea-shore, he'd run the last three hours without stopping once, his wings furled tightly against his back.

 When he reached the sand, Harry flopped down, exhausted, falling immediately into a deep, restive sleep.

 Several hours later, hunger woke him, and he wished he'd been a little more thoughtful about what he'd need before he'd left the palace.

 Shifting form back to human, Harry took a handful of sand and transformed it into edible food. He didn't make anything fancy, because making food was fairly difficult – it was also not a good idea to make _too_ much, as there was a magical limit placed on all wizards and witches to prevent them from making too much food and robbing the shops of that income.

 Gulping down the food, Harry backtracked to a stream he'd noticed and drank his fill of the cool, clear water, forgetting that he did not need to check for poison here on Atlantis.

 Going back to the beach, Harry collapsed once more, changing to his panther form this time, remembering how bad it felt when he got sand under his scales.

 The sun was overhead when he woke the next morning, though not much, he was glad to realise. Knowing that he'd probably got sand between his scales the night before, Harry took a bath in the sea water to make sure it all got done away with.

 Taking off, Harry allowed the sun to dry his glistening wet scales as he flew steadily over the ocean. 

 'Harry? Can you talk?' It was Elisa – trust her to come and take away the boredom.

 'Nothing I'd like more,' Harry assured her.

 So Harry spent the rest of that day feeling a lot less bored than the day before. He stopped frequently at islands for short rest breaks, just to make sure he'd be able to get to the next.

 Through most of the day Elisa was talking to him about various things, including home, Sky, home, Atlantis is general, home, the Place in particular, home, what she was doing at the time, and, did she mention, home? 

 As night began to fall, Harry speeded up his wing beats, heading for a landmass he could only just see on the horizon.

 'You gonna be okay, Harry?' Elisa asked in concern.

 'I'll be fine,' Harry assured her. 'I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok? It must be close to dinner time for you now.'

 'Getting that way, and I have to change,' Elisa replied.

 Harry broke of contact and settled into the easy beat of flying, though it was now speeded up as he tried to reach his destination before full dark.

 He could see perfectly in the dark, but he wanted to rest for as much of the night as he could, so that meant getting there. 

 Once he got closer he realised that it wasn't like the small islands that he'd visited frequently that day, but a much larger landmass, and he'd be able to walk for a good bit of the next day. As far as he could see, however, there were no mountains.

 It took him just over a week to reach the country in which he knew the tribes to be located, he could see the mountain rising majestic in the distance.

 Harry landed and began an easy lope in the direction of the mountain. The daylight hours had changed here, and Elisa was still fast asleep, so he couldn't bother her with the news of his victory – at least, partial one.

 Harry's thoughts ranged as he ran smoothly onwards, but that didn't make him miss the fact that he'd picked up company. He knew it the moment the two trackers started marking him, and soon began devising a way of getting away from them.

 Soon, he found it, and used his magic to create a sound a little off the path, one of the hunters hurried to see what that sound was, and Harry quickly bounded over a large log in the path, twisting to the side and casting an invisibility charm over himself, even as he changed to the form of an eagle and Aparated into the air, where he removed the charm, smirking to himself at the ease with which he'd lost his perusers. 

 They were probably of the order he wanted to find, but he wanted to meet them on his own grounds in his human form, not on theirs in the form of a Canis Dracis.

 Sweeping over the huge plain with his powerful wings beating, the golden eagle eyed out the groups of people, herd beasts and landmarks.

 There were a lot of people, Harry realised, slightly surprised, he'd not expected this many, as there were well over five hundred. From what he could see, they camped in groups of fifty large tents, and the people wandered between the tents in the day time … or at least, they were today.

 Winging away from the plain, Harry headed straight for the mountain, where he could rest for a while before returning to view the habits of these people, so he could learn how to best approach them.

 Harry slept that night in the form of a fox, his latest achievement in shape-shifting, as he had come to call it. Settling his weary body on the ground, Harry allowed his eyes to drift close and the welcome arms of sleep to wrap around his mind.

 His sleep lasted until the sun rose high enough to shine in his eyes the following morning, and Harry woke much refreshed. Stretching, baring small, snowy white fangs in yawn, Harry have himself a shake and automatically checked the area for human or Animagus followers. 

 Satisfied in finding none, Harry changed form, a golden eagle once more taking to the air, to scout around the camps on the plain below.

 Harry spent a week doing this, keeping a very careful watch on the people below. At night he came closer to the camps in the form of a fox with an invisibility charm cast over himself.

 He was learning their ways well, and it was on the forth day that a stranger came to the tents. Harry came closer, casting a charm to turn eyes away from him, rather than risk anyone seeing a hawk suddenly disappear.

 Landing, he switched directly to fox form, having found that this was possible during the past week. The prisoner was treated courteously, though the man was obviously not being allowed to leave.

 Harry watched until evening when a meeting was called of all the Head Priests and Shamans, with the prisoner as the main topic.

 The first thing to happen was for the man to be brought before them, and asked what it was he was doing there. The man replied that he needed help, one of his family was sick and he wanted to ask the Shamans for a charm to protect the rest of his family and his village from catching the disease, until a Mage could be detailed to them.

 He was then taken away while the priests decided what they were going to do about it. Harry was somewhat relieved to learn that even if the priests did not choose to help a person, that person would simply be sent away with enough food and water to make it back to his or her home.

 This time, however, the person was in luck, and the head shamans worked for most of the night to create the charm with the most magical power possible. 

 That night, having returned to his mountain 'den' Harry realised that he'd been stupid, this was Atlantis, no one was going to severely harm anyone else if it could be avoided, which it generally could.

 No person on this world would knowing kill a person, no matter how different they were to the rest of the people on their world.

 With this is in mind, Harry decided that he himself would go to the tents the next morning, and see what happened – if he was attacked in any form, he _was_ perfectly capable of defending himself.

 The morning came, and Harry forced his mind away from the brutal things that he knew had been performed on intruders in his own world. He knew that he would be safe enough here, but that didn't stop his nervousness at revealing himself.

 Harry entered the forest from the far side and walking silently forwards at a good pace, waiting to get far enough into the forest to warrant curiosity.

 It wasn't too long before two men appeared silently out of the forest on either side of him – Harry didn't so much as start at the suddeness of it, since he'd been aware of them for some time.

 Nodding calmly to them, he kept walking, the two exchanged startled glances, and one of them reached out, catching Harry's shoulder.

 Harry turned to look at him. "I desire to be taken to the Tents of your leader. If you must acompany me, do so," he told the man coolly, pulled his shoulder free and continued walking.

 Another startled glance was exchanged, before the two of them fell into a loping jog, following a little behind Harry. A short time after this, another two people appeared, falling in step in front of him, as if to make sure that he was properly guarded.

 It took them some time to reach the Tents, and no one spoke a word over the journey.

 Upon their exit of the forest onto the plain, almost all activity stopped as everyone turned to watch the new comers. Harry didn't look at them, heading straight for the leaders Tent, which was where his guide-guards were heading anyway.

 Aparently there was a meeting this morning, and he wasn't going to have to remain until night time, which would be good, since he'd have been bored stiff if that was the case – too long away from people to converse with.

 He was stopped firmly by the two people following him as the two who'd been in the lead entered the tent. Harry heard them announcing that someone else had come to find them, and a moment later Harry and his other two guards were waved inside.

 Everyone in the room was seated around a table, the two guards moved to the door, as if to prevent Harry from leaving, if he decided that he didn't want to be here after all.

 "Sit," one of the older men instructed Harry sternly.

 "I prefer to stand," Harry returned, his refusal polite by absolute.

 There were a few murmurs around the room as it's occupants wondered at this refusal – why would they want to help someone who was being rude to them? 

 "Very well. What is it that you require our help with? I warn you that you will not necessarily receive it," the same man stated.

 Harry smiled faintly and took the books out of what was apparently nowhere, stepping over to the table to place them there, face down so that no one could see what they were called. 

 "My name is Harry Potter – or Ferux, here. When I was on Earth, I found these books, written in a language similar to that of Atlantean, but at the same time different. After consulting Lady Lilith, I found out that it was written in the language that you write in. I require a translation, if that is possible," he stated calmly.

 The room almost immediately burst into a gaggle of confused noise and sound. Harry winced and covered his ears to try and avoid the worst of it.

 Finally he used his magic to create several loud explosive noises. The man who'd spoken to Harry looked at him and spoke gravely.

 "So. You are the One."

*********************************************************

As good a place as any to leave off, don't you think? More about the One next chapter, hopefully!

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	25. Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five:

 Harry smiled at the young novice-priest beside him – the man was not that much older than Harry himself, and had already decided on the course of his life. Harry wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but decided to keep it quiet – who knew what _he'd be doing at that point in his own life?_

 They were walking to one of the Higher Priests tents, where they were both taking lessons on reading and writing in the language of the nomad priests. 

 The Council had decided that Harry would be taught to read the writing in the books that he'd brought, though they refused to tell him what they meant by 'the One' as they called him.

 Harry had grown used to their secrecy in the past week he'd been in their company, it was a little bit of a shock when in Atlantis, but he himself was as secretive as they were – he'd told them no more about himself than he had the morning that he'd arrived.

 He'd had a good time in the various camps, running between them several times a day, as the many people he had to talk to were located in every given group of tents.

 Harry was very glad that he'd been he was this 'One' of theirs, because he doubted that they'd have taught him otherwise … but maybe if he wasn't this the 'One' he would not have been in this situation right now anyway.

 "Hey Ferux, aren't you at all nervous about all the tests that we're going to get?" The young priest – his name was Denandor – asked him.

 Harry shrugged. "Not really. I have to learn and it won't be _that_ hard. I can pass the tests, and I'm sure that you can too," he replied easily.

 They were approaching the tent in which they'd need to be for the day's lesson now, and Denandor was looking more nervous than ever. Harry rested a hand momentarily on the other's shoulder as if to try and calm him down.

 Denandor had only been amung the preists for a few months, and he'd just gotten through all of the tests that novices had to go through before they could begin to learn the actual things a priest needed.

 Walking inside, the other seemed to be actually shaking, Harry stood straight and tall, his face immobile and utterly calm.

 The Higher Priest was sitting in front of a desk, writing in the same style as was in Harry's book, and paid no attention to the new arrivals.

 Harry stood still and silent, patiently awaiting the Scribe's attention. Denandor fidgetted. Harry would have sighed, but he was in the presence of a Teacher figure.

 The man carefully finished the page he was scribing, before placing his quill on the table and turning his attention to the 'students' in front of him.

 "You are prompt," the man remarked. "Be seated and do not fidget."

 Harry smiled faintly, this man seemed rather like a cross between Snape and McGonagall.

 Settling himself calmly, Harry focused his mind completely on the lesson, he seemed to have a natural talent for languages since he'd first come to Atlantis, and he was fairly sure that he impressed the older priest with his willingness and ability to learn.

 It was approaching the end of Harry and Elisa's 'holiday' in Atlantis, and Harry had the language of the priests under control, he could read and write fluently, and had made a lasting impression on the priests who'd taught him and gotten to know him.

 He had not seen the books that he'd brought with him until it was decided he'd reached the end of his training. 

 "I ask that you not read them until you've returned to your Earth," the Head of the Council told Harry firmly. "You will have questions for us once you've read those books, questions that you must answer for yourself. If you are here, you may be tempted to take advantage of our friendship and find out something from one of the younger ones to make your course easier."

 Harry wanted to protest that he'd _never cheat like that, but kept himself still and silent – one did not speak out in front of the council unless one was asked too, Harry knew. _

 "You have been a good and willing student, and a fine friend while you were with us, Ferux. You will be missed amung us, but those of us who know your destiny know that you must leave, and leave now – go, for there are many things that you must do!" 

 Harry looked at them for a moment, then bowed and shifted form, a huge dragon, a form that Harry had only recently learned, turned it's head to the sky for a moment, suddenly the books appeared, fastened between his huge, golden wings.

 Powerful hind legs pushed off against the ground, sending Harry leaping for the sky, the brilliant golden dragon let out a roar of farewell and thanks, dipped it's wings once and set out flying hard for the Palace.

 The Dragon/Harry seemed to smile as it beat a steady course through the air, he'd learnt a way to make a change to a form that he wanted too, although it did take some effort.

 He had to research a _lot about the animal that he wished to become, think on it's habits and learn it's ways of thinking, as much as he could._

 Then, when he went to that space where his mind stayed while his body changed around him, and his magic took the course of his interest.

 He'd kept up his contact with Elisa through the time he'd spend in Atlantis, and she was progressing very well with her magics, she'd learnt to do quite a bit of Wandless Magic recently, which had been a great thing, in Harry's oppinion.

 When they got back he could teach her how to fight with it, but he'd leave that for back on Earth, since Atlanteans didn't like fighting to harm at all.

 A few months into his stay at the Priests camp, Lady Lilith went into labour. Harry wished that he could have taken the time to go and back visit his young almost-relatives. They were twins, a boy and a girl. 

 It took him three days to get back to the Palace, compared to the week it had taken him to make the other journey, as he'd wanted to get back fast and had used his Elemental Magic to make the winds move to his needs.

 For the last part of the journey he took the form of the Canis Dracis, because that way they'd know it was him coming, and not some beast they'd never seen before.

 It wasn't much longer before it was time for him and Elisa to leave. On his last day, Harry walked into the Spirit Room to speak properly with his parents.

 "Harry! You came!" Lily said, grinning happily. Harry smiled back, and hugged her and his father. He could actually _feel them here, and he loved it._

 "Harry," James's voice was serious, and Harry looked at him in surprise – his father was very rarely serious, it wasn't in his nature.

 "Harry, I'm not sure how long we can continue to talk to you, the way we have been since you first came here," Lily told him, there tears in her emerald eyes.

 "Why not?" Harry asked, his heart suddenly wrenching at the thought of having to leave his parents behind, even if they could be very annoying, chattering away in his head.

 "Because we were using stored magic to speak with you, and what little of our magic was left when we died is almost dried up. If you _really_ need our help, call us, using your own magic to form the link, and we'll come, but we need some magic for … something else," Lily replied.

 "What?" Harry demanded immediately.

 "We can't tell you," James said sadly. "But you'll figure it out for yourself soon enough, if you need to know. You'd best go, kid, you've to pack your things and decide what you're going to take back with you before you go, you know!"

 Harry could feel a wetness on his cheeks, and wondered how long it had been since he'd cried last.

 He hugged them both tightly. "I'll call you every now and then, just to chat, if I have the time, and the magic. There's no point in being a family if I only talk to you when I need something!" he told them.

 They hugged him back, and there were tears in both their eyes as they watched him turn and walk away, out of the door and closed the Spirit Garden from the rest of the Palace.

 He and Elisa could take back three things between them – they decided on Elisa's broom, a copy of a book on Atlantean Magic's and a third Dothae to keep the other two company.

 Once this had been decided, they went to Lilith and bid farewell to her and her two children – she'd named them after Harry and Elisa – Ferux  and Celeres.

 "May they never have to go through their namesakes troubles," Harry said, raising his hand in a parting salute to the people who were as good as his family, in blood as well as in his heart.

 Then they were travelling back to Earth, Elisa clung to his arm, and his other hand steadied the older Dothae, who was actually pregnant, though her mate had died.

 Suddenly they were dumped on the floor of 'Harry's' room, the floor jarring their feet, and their things knocking into them for a moment until they got themselves sorted out.

 Harry looked around the room, hardly believing that it had been a year since he was here, though in this time it was only one day. Shaking his head slightly, Harry used a quite snap of magic to send everything to it's rightful place, and helped Elisa to her feet.

 "We're back," he remarked. "I'd best take Lithia here down to the Forbidden Forest," he added thoughtfully. 

 "Ok, I'll go over to Sirius's room, meet you there when you come back?" Elisa offered.

 "Sure," Harry replied, and both of them headed from the room. "I'll bring the stuff there when I come."

 "Right, see you soon!" Elisa changed form and raced away, Harry following her example and changing form to the panther this time, since it had been awhile since he'd changed to his first shape.

 With the Dothae padding beside him, Harry headed for the forest, in some ways glad to be back in his own world, but in others he knew that he would sadly miss the peace and calmness he'd felt on Atlantis.

 He left the Dothae on the edge of the forest, not really wanting to have another meeting with the unicorns, who really seemed to dislike humans in general. 

 Heading back up to the castle, he ran as fast as he could, a blur of speed across the ground, streaking up the stairs so fast he wondered why he didn't trip and break his neck or something.

 He reached Sirius's rooms in record time and as he stepped through the door and became human again, he brought the things that he and Elisa had brought back from Atlantis.

 Sirius bounded over to give him a hug. "Hey kid! How was your trip?" He asked brightly.

 Harry rolled his eyes. "As well as may be expected. I learnt what I went to learnt, and had a bit of a 'holiday' as Eli calls it, along the way," he replied coolly.

 A moment later Ron and Hermione bounded in the door, grinning at Harry. "How was your trip?" They asked, even if he'd only been gone for one day.

 Harry rolled his eyes. "I just finished answering that question," he remarked waspishly, but repeated his answer with a grin.

 They sat around and Harry told them of what had happened in Atlantis. Everyone was _very_ impressed about his ability to take on multiple forms, but he decided not to demonstrate the more … unique … forms, they could wait for a little while, and then he could show them in the Forbidden Forest some time later.

 "I'm going to talk to Dumbledore about taking a few days off school, away from the premesis in class times to read them, because I think – and I'm pretty sure he'll agree with me – that this is quite important," he finished up.

 "At least we don't have Potions every day," Ron remarked. "It's hell when you aren't here, because he knows that Dumbledore trusts your word, and that you won't shy away from _telling the Headmaster about the way he's been treating Gryffindor students."_

 "I'll try and keep in the school on potions days then," Harry said with a grin. "I have to go and see Dumbledore now, I'll meet you again at dinner, ok?"

 They waved goodbye. Elisa was much more relaxed about guarding Harry after a year in Atlantis, though she'd get back into the habit soon enough.

 Harry strode through the halls, evoiding everyone, as he didn't really want to talk to people at the moment. It was a bit of a shock, leaving at Atlantis.

 Harry walked up to the Gargoyle, trying to remember the password, and was surprised to see Dumbledore walking up from the other direction. 

 "Ah, Harry! Back are you?" the headmaster asked, smiling at his student.

 "Yeah. I've got a few things that I need to talk to you about –" Harry started.

 "And I have some things to speak with you of as well," Dumbledore interupted him, smiling gently. "The first of which being that it is about time for you phoenix to choose a name."

 Harry had to think for a few moments before he remembered the little creature – he'd been so busy for most of the year that he'd been on Earth, on top of the one spent in Atlantis that the creatures existance had slipped his mind completely.

 "Oh!" He exclaimed, remembering suddenly, brilliant golden-green eyes snapping fully open. "I'd almost forgotten it!" 

 "No need to worry, you've been away from Earth for a year in your mind," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Come on, we'd best get up to my office, we can talk there, with your young friend nearby."

 Harry smiled at the man, and waiting for him to say the password to allow them to pass inside and climb the stairs. Dumbledore asked him what had gone on in Atlantis, the old headmaster was quite eager to hear about this other realm, so much so that Harry wished he could take him there, but he was pretty sure that would be impossible.

 In the Headmasters office, Fawkes was sharing his perch with Harry's little phoenix, who was quite dwarfed by the older bird, who was evidently about midway between 'burning days'.

 Harry walked over and the smaller bird flew over to land in his hands, Harry could deffinately sense a change since he'd bought the creature, a more developed conciousness and a sense of individuality. 

 Cradling the small creature, pleasantly warm against his chest, Harry settled in a chair that Dumbledore conjured for him out of mid air. "What did you want to ask me, Harry?" The headmaster asked.

 Harry hesitated but a moment before telling the other man the story of his time in Atlantis – a pause just long enough to make sure that there were no others listening in.

 Dumbledore looked at his student, he could no longer call Harry 'young' or a 'boy', for he was a man, and aged beyond his years by the trials of his short life.

 "I can only give you permission to do as you've requested, Harry," he said after a few moments of thought. I, too, think that it is important for you to learn what those books say, but I have one condition."

 Harry, who'd been grinning happily a moment before, immediately looked up, slightly startled.

 "And that is that if you feel that you must tell your friends what you've learned, and I doubt they'd let you _not, you bring them here so that I can hear as well – otherwise, I must ask you to come here and tell me anyway, who knows what treasures those books hold?"_

 Harry laughed aloud with relief. "Of course, Sir!" he replied immediately, and then was distracted by the young bird in his arms. It was flapping it's wings and squaking. 

 Listening for a moment, Harry realised that it was speaking gibberish, not actually phoenix-tongue, but he knew enough about the birds to know that his was about to decide on its Name.

:_Caminus: The voice was in Harry's mind, like nothing he'd ever heard before, filled with love and an unwavering loyalty. He knew that they were bound together now, that Caminus would never leave him, until the day he died._

 "Caminus," Harry told Dumbledore, looking up and smiling. "A male, too."

 Dumbledore smiled back at him. "I don't think that you should let it roam the school," he remarked, "he may startle the students."

 "Yeah, that's fine," Harry agreed. "I'd best get going, I might use the Shrieking Shack this time, it's got more space," he added thoughtfully.

 "And you will return to the school for meals?" Dumbledore asked.

 "Yeah. Could you tell the teachers that I'm doing something … some study for you? Since that isn't quite a lie? And that I'll catch up on any assignments over the weekend?" Harry asked.

 "Of course, Harry, now, are you going there now, or tomorrow morning?"

 "I think I'll go and tell the guys what's happening, and then head out now, may as well get things done fast," Harry replied thoughtfully.

 "As you wish. I hope you find what you are looking for!" Dumbledore dissmissed him.

 Harry left quickly and headed down the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't meet up with anyone, but even if he did, it wouldn't matter, since to them he'd only been 'sick' for one day.

 He ran into Neville on the way, paused to greet the boy, who was still a little scared from Potions, and told Harry that he was glad the other boy was back, and well again.

 Slightly touched, Harry continued on, Caminus resting on his shoulder, the young phoenixes wings half stretched out for balance, the invisibility charm keeping him from the notice of Harry's peers.

 It didn't take him long at all to get back to Sirius's rooms. "Hey look, my phoenixes name is Caminus, isn't he cool?" Harry showed the little bird off.

 Completely understanding what was said around him, Caminus swept his wings open to their full extent, perfectly willing to be admired, which is exactly what he was.

 "Oh, he's so handsome!" Hermione cooed, stroking Caminus's flame-crested head. Caminus opened his beak and a few pure, sweet notes drifted forth, almost bringing tears to the eyes of the watchers.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Sirius asked a short time later.

 "He said it was fine," Harry told them, smiling slightly. "I might head out now, and eat dinner down there. I'll be up in the morning for breakfast."

 "Ok. Do you want me to get your homework?" Hermione asked him.

 "No, it's alright, I'll get them when I come back," Harry replied, grinning, and explained what he'd asked Dumbledore to do for him.

 "Lucky," Ron grumbled under his breath.

 With Caminus once more perched on his shoulder and the two books under his arm, Harry headed out of the room, this time under an invisibility spell.

 He was out of the castle in a few moments, running on silent feet across the grounds, he didn't freeze the Whomping Willow, as someone might see that, but instead dropped to the ground, wriggling closer and closer. The tree couldn't sense him, and he wasn't long until Harry tumbled gently into the passageway beneath.

 Caminus swooped down after him, not having wanted to take the road that Harry had. "I'm ok mate," Harry told it, smiling slightly and holding up his arm for the bird to alight.

 Caminus resting securely on his arm, Harry hurried into the dark passage, calling to the Light Elementals to come and light the way for him to pass through without stumbling. This small working didn't take too much energy, and Harry had a lot of magical power stored at the moment anyway – he'd empty it into the stones a little later.

 It wasn't much longer before Harry pulled himself up into the room, and waiting for Caminus to alight on his shoulder and then ventured into the dusty house.

 After sending a wave of his magic around the place, getting rid of the dust, making sure that no one could hear anything that went on within the house, and that no one would be able to see anything out of the ordinary with it.

 Then a quick command to the Fire Elementals, and Harry called a fire into existance in the hearth and created a ball of light as he sat down at a table he'd repaired when he and his friends came here for the final stages of Ron and Hermione's animagus transformations.

 Settingly himself on a chair, Harry placed the two huge books on the table, and Caminus took off from his shoulder to get some flying practice done.

 Harry looked over the titles, trying to decide which should be read first. After a moments scrutiny he found that one book had 'Volume One' and the other 'Volume Two'.

 Smiling faintly, Harry opened the book and began to read…

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Would love to leave you here! _Such_ a good cliffie! *sighs* but the chapter is not yet long enough, so it is not to be! On with the story!

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 "I quote: 

_ The One shall live a hard life, alone in the world, his blood is not his family, and his family is not his blood, and he holds the weight of the world on his shoulders._

_ For it is up to him to defeat the last of the Snake's line, a destiny laid upon him by his great ancestor, Godric Gryffindor, but there is a second prophesy he must fulfil._

_ If he is indeed the One, then he alone of all of the world has the power to link the world of Earth to our own wonderful Atlantis."_

 Harry was standing in Dumbledore's office, his friends around him, eager to learn what it was that he had discovered from reading the books.

 "It all fits, I think," Harry said softly. "Voldemort wants to kill me because I'm a descendant of Godric Gryffindor, and only one of that line can kill him, the dream I had …"

 "What dream?" Sirius pounced on him, eyes wide with sudden thoughts.

 Harry described his dream as best he could, and Sirius whooped for joy. "Lily and James didn't die in vain then!" he said, happily.

 Harry stared at him. "What do you mean?" He asked his godfather slowly.

 "They thought that you might be the One, and they told me what it meant – they knew, because Godric had told Lily in a dream – Lily is Godric's decendant, and from her you get his blood – and Godric had said that you were likely to be the one.

 "I think that it was because it's Godric's line who must destroy Voldemort, who is the last of Slytherin – the Snakes – decendants, but it's the Potter's who are tied to Atlantis, and you were the first of them to ever be combined," Sirius mused. 

 "But anyway, they told me what your destiny might have in store for you, and that if something happened to them, I was to watch over you. I think that might have suspected something would come up to make me unable to care for you, but they never expected what actually did happen, I'm sure of that.

 "So that's what I've done since I met first just under three years ago, in Earth time, and I've kept a closer watch since then, as I could take care of you myself," Sirius explained.

 Harry looked a little stunned by this. 

 "So it seems that you are indeed the One," Dumbledore stated softly. "I have heard legends that mention the One, though I never really paid them that much heed … now I can hardly recall them, but it is true that you have a great destiny before you, Harry."

 Ron and Hermione stood up and moved to Harry's side, Ron throwing and arm over his shoulder and Hermione slipping an arm around his waist – they both knew that Harry wanted nothing more than to be normal.

 Elisa hung back a little, comforting Harry in her mind, and Sirius let the three old friends have a quiet moment together. 

 Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I hoped that something like this would not happen to you, Harry. It was a great pity that the innocence of your childhood was as abused as it was, you grew up to fast, missed out on so much … but destinies call, and they hurt. I can never stress how much they hurt."

 Harry nodded in complete agreement.   

 "You must be ready for the final battle, Harry, and I'm sure that you will fulfill that part of your destiny, I will help you as much as I can, but I cannot tell you how much that will be – you know more fighting than I will ever possess," Dumbledore added. "But if there is anything – anything at all – my door is always open."

 "Thank you," Harry said, from the bottom of his heart.

 Harry caught up with his homework in no time at all, but it was not long before something else came along to distract him from school.

 A letter from Tiger came.

_ Panther –_

_What I spoke with you about has come to pass, I am fleeing the Seekers Academy with a loyal few to start up your school of fighting, this letter will reach you only a day or so ahead of me, and there will probably be Seekers on my trail, be ready for us,_

_Tiger._

 Muttering angrily under his breath at the timing of the letter, Harry slipped from the common room with a word to Ron and Hermione telling them where he was going.

 Invisible, Harry slipped up to the trunk of the Whomping Willow, shivering as he looked up at the bright, full moon, reminding him what used to happen in his father's days at Hogwarts on nights like these. 

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he froze the trunk of the tree and headed quickly down the passageway.

 Once he reached the Shreiking Shack, Harry walked over the whole place, and cursed Tiger for not telling him how many were coming with him.

 Muttering under his breath, he used a combination of Wandless and Elemental Magics to create a huge chamber beneath the foundations of the house, lining it with stone walls and setting up a fire place and several rooms going off it, to make some space for bedrooms, should he need more than five beds or so.

 He went to the kitchen next, and placed a fridge – people from Seekers Academy generally knew how to opperate Muggle items, as they often had 'jobs' in the Muggle world.

 He then placed a spell on the fridge to create any food that was asked for, in whatever ammounts were necessary. This was a forbidden spell, because it put a lot of shops out of business, if people could just create what they needed using magic, but Harry didn't mind about that, no Seeker ever paid too much attention to rules.

 Setting the rest of the house up so that it could accommodate visitors, Harry smiled at his work, then hurried back out again to get up to the school, he had a feeling that he was going to need his sleep.

 The next day Harry took the Marauders Map with him, invisible, and had Caminus on his shoulder, as the young bird disliked not having him around for any long period of time.

 Having talked to Dumbledore in the morning, Harry had received permission – in the form of a written note – to leave any class that he had the need to, without losing any house points.

 As chance would have it, Harry spied eleven people, with a dot labelled 'Tiger' at their head, entering the school about ten minutes into Potions.

 Harry quickly began to pack up his things. "What do you think you're doing Potter?" Snape pounced on him immediately, but Harry, instead of replying, waved his wand and sent the note that Dumbledore had given him to Snape with magic.

 Ignoring Snape's murderous glare, Harry hurried from the room, Elisa glancing at Snape, then hurrying after him when she received confirmation from Harry that her name was on the note as well.

 Elisa kept close to Harry's right shoulder, her entire body completely ready to fight for the life of her brother and friend, Harry could 'hear' her mentally going over her weapons.

 They met up with the ragged band of Seekers about half way across the grounds, the two groups immediately stopped and eyed each other warilly.

 Harry didn't recongize anyone but for Tiger, but he'd heard of one of them, nicknamed Silent Death for his love of poisons. The man had not been at the Academy while Harry was there, he'd been on a 'mission' in America.

 After a moment, Tiger left his group, Silent Death slipping to his side and the pair of them walked up to Harry and Elisa.

 "Panther, nice to see you again," Tiger said, after the silence had been drawn out.

 "My name is Ferux now," Harry stated calmly. "And it is good to see you, too. If your friends would follow us, we'll get you set up for a while until a more appropriet place can be found."

 Silent Death looked a little surprised, and Harry allowed himself a tiny smile as the two of them turned and hurried back down to the others. The man didn't know Harry Potter at all, had never met him before that day, but he'd probably heard something of Panther and Padfoot, from those who'd been in the Seekers Academy.

 Harry turned and began walking across the grounds, Elisa at his shoulder, the Seekers would catch them up soon enough. 

 They hadn't gone very far when the Seekers jogged up, Tiger looked about to come closer to Harry, but the expression on Elisa's face warned him off.

 'I don't trust him,' Elisa told Harry silently. 'Nor any of these others, I'd much rather they stayed away from us, even if they do have a good fighting technique.'

 'I know. They are criminals, Eli, but we need them. Merlin help us, but we need them,' Harry replied sadly. He didn't want these people here any more than she did, even if he had once liked Tiger, but the other man was just another person he had to watch now.

 Harry glanced around quickly, cast a quick charm over the party to direct anyone who was looking at them's attention away, then froze the tree by pressing the knot on the trunk with a stick.

 "This way," he called over his shoulder, slipping into the passageway before turning around to walk backwards so that he could keep an eye on the Seekers, while Elisa walked in front of him, letting him know silently when something was coming up that he might trip over.

 He had to turn to get into the house, but he used a combination of Elemental and Wandless magic to create a very strong sheild, that would protect him from physical and magical attacks.

 He bounded up into the room, let the sheild go, because it cost a lot of strength to keep it up for any length of time.

 He and Elisa took the Seekers on a guided tour of the small shack, showed them where the sleeping quarters were, and then left with Tiger to let them settle in.

 "Is there anyone I should look out for?" Harry asked Tiger coolly.

 "Yes, watch out for Dagger," Harry put the name to the face of a young woman with a nasty sneer and black eyes, with dark tanned skin. "I'm not sure why she chose to came, but I think she'd be better off somewhere else," Tiger replied. Harry could tell he was speaking the truth.

 "Any others?" He prompted.

 "I'm not sure about Black Death, but apart from that, no one who you should be more suspicious of than normal," Tiger replied, and Harry knew that it was the truth.

 "Very well, thank you," he told his old teacher.

 Tiger gave a thin smile and headed back towards the others, presenting his back to Harry, which was quite a trusting gesture for a Seeker to make.

 Harry and Elisa followed him, hanging back a little to reassure him that they wouldn't try to harm him.

 In the room where the Seekers were assembled, they all ranged around the room, and all faced the doors, so that they could be up and running out of the doors in a moment if they had to be.

 "I have to ask that you _do not leave the house under any circumstances unless called – there are a lot of aurors in the grounds, they let you in because I had a concealing charm to ward attention off any Seeker, I will not keep that up and waste my energy on you any longer than necessary," he told them firmly._

 Let them think that – he'd told the Aurors to allow the a small group of Seekers into the school, but to attack if he didn't join them swiftly. 

 Silent Death and the woman Dagger fidgetted slightly, but Harry only just caught it, reading the expressions in their eyes as only one trained by the former Shadow Master could.

 "I will leave you here," he told them. "I have classes to attend and other things to do."

 Contemptuously he turned his back on them – while in the case of Tiger it was a symbol of trust, the manner of his parting and his expression made it an insult – he was telling them that he didn't think them enough of a threat to worry about turning his back to them.

 He'd sent Elisa ahead of him, telling her that he had to handle this himself, because he was fairly certain that he knew what was going to happen.

 Sure enough, a moment later there was a whir of an object moving fast through the air, and Harry could sense a body leaping after it. He dropped to the ground and a throwing dagger thudded into the wall where the area between his shoulder blades had been shortly before.

 Twisting, he kicked out, sending Dagger spinning over his shoulder. She flipped in the air, landing on her feet, surprise in her eyes as Harry was standing calmly to meet her, his green-gold eyes blazing.

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Ok, I have to go to school now, so I'll write another chapter when I get home and tell you what happened with the fight! Expect it up in a day or so!

I won't do a thanks column for now, I'm going to thank everyone who reviewed EVERY chapter of this story at the end of the last chapter … 

BTW, I've put up a homepage thingy. Have a look if you need something to do, there isn't much there for now, but I hope to get some more stuff up soon …

~Wolfmoon~ 


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six:

 Breathing lightly, Harry watched Dagger as they circled, each searching for a weakness in the other. Dagger had attacked him once more, but Harry had danced out of the way, snatching the dagger she'd thrown at him from the air and stashing it away for use again later.

 The other had gotten the idea and was going to be hesitant about trying another knife throw. That was what Harry wanted, that and time to gauge his oppenent, to try and figure out the weakness that would allow him to emerge from this fight victorious.

 He didn't allow himself to even process the thought that maybe he wouldn't – that was the first step on the generally short road to defeat. Harry kept watching, noting every movement his opponent made with a sense of detatchment.

 He noted that she repeated a nervous habit of a faltered step quite often, since he'd caught her knife from the air, and allowed himself an internal smile.

 In her mind, Dagger had decided that he could be better than she was, and Harry knew this to be a fatal mistake, though it would also make her unpredictable and dangerous.

 He suddenly sprang in, his body movements giving no inisigh to his actions, Slytherins sword swung out, lashing across the side of her face.

 Dagger let out an involantary cry of pain, feeling the blood dripping down her face. Harry knew now that victory would be his, soon. She could easily become blinded by the blood, and was distracted by both that and the pain of the injury.

 Harry noted this without feeling, she wanted him dead, and had attacked him. He would have to kill her, or lose all standing in the eyes of the other Seekers, and her death would bring him respect, something he would need to survive with these people.

 They continued their circling, and Harry could sense the excitement building the Seekers behind him. They never interfeared with duels between Seekers, that was unmanerly, as far as Seekers took manners. The lesser would die, and that was a fact. If someone died, they weren't good enough to live.

 Harry bitterly replayed that phrase in his mind, it was one of the guiding sayings of the academy, and something that nearly all Seekers lived by.

 Harry was timing his move, the winning strike, and waited for a few moments, carefully watching his oppenants steps – there, the one before the falter … Harry moved just as Dagger made her faltering step, his two swords flashing up, Gryffindors blade deflecting a thrown knife, Slytherins seeking his enemies heart.

 Dagger drew a gasping breath and fell, dead, at Harry's feet. There was no sound from the Seekers, a quick glance over their faces revealed nothing of their thoughts.

 Harry silently called for Elise. "I will leave you to deal with her body," he told them calmly. "I must return to the castle now."

 Once more turning his back on the room, this time Harry made it out without a further incedent.

 "You killed her?" Elisa asked, her voice betraying no emotion, though her mind was a whir of complex thoughts.

 "Yes," Harry answered with a sigh. He let his thoughts commune the terrible feelings that twisted his mind and heart, as words could never express.

 Elisa silently rested a hand upon Harry's arm, as they hastened from the passageway and up towards the castle.

 Ron and Hermione were waiting for them in the entrance hall. "What happened?" Hermione demanded, nearly bouncing up and down in her impatience to learn.

 Harry smiled. "The Seekers have arrived, and your training can begin at last. I have to contact the other members of the Young Phoenixes to come here as soon as possible. We must establish a good meeting place that everyone can access, and that will remain fairly out of the wall, to avoid public interest," he replied.

 Ron and Hermione both grinned, and the four Gryffindors headed up to their Common Room to draft a message to their friends who had departed into the world beyong Hogwarts.

 Once this was done, and the letter sent away with Caminus, Harry and Elisa begged their leave and wandered out of the common room, taking a wandering path that would eventually lead them to Sirius's rooms.

 "Sirius?" Harry called pushing the door open. When they entered the room, they found Sirius sitting and staring bleakly at a letter in his hand. They immediately recognized the owl as Menolly's and hurried over. 

 "Sirius? What happened? Is mum alright?" Elisa asked, momentarily frightened.

 Sirius looked up, the expressions on his face where at war, fighting between delight, surprise and even fear. "She's pregnant," he replied.

 Elisa stumbled slightly and sat down hard. Harry kept up his iron control over his body, and sat lightly, as always ready to move at the slightest threat.

 "How far along is she?" Harry asked, after the silence had stretched out for a time.

 "Two and half months," Sirius replied, voice slightly dull. 

 "Must have been concieved at Christmas time," Elisa remarked, grinning wickedly at Sirius, who smirked momentarily, then remembered the upcoming event and returned to his silent thoughts.

 "She's coming here, the Aurors don't let pregnant woman continue to opperate in the field, and she couldn't stand being in an office for long," Sirius added, then suddenly bounded to his feet. "That means we have to get the place ready for her. You two will have to help me!"

 Looking over the room that Sirius occupied, Harry decided that his godfather wouldn't get _anywhere without their help, and faced with the job ahead of them, the two teenagers completely forgot to tell Sirius about the arrival of the Seekers._

 Three hours later, Harry straightened up and looked over the room, now miraculously clean, and wiped his hand over forhead. "That was a job and no mistake, even with magic," he remarked.

 Sirius and Elisa flopped down on the bed, and Harry joined them. "Now, what did you come about? Just to visit?" Sirius asked. 

 "No," Harry replied, only just remembering. "The Seekers arrived," Harry and Elisa told Sirius what had happened with the Seekers. Sirius was on his feet and pacing by the end of it. 

 "I'd tell you that you shouldn't have risked your life that like, if I didn't know that you had to, to make sure that they respected you. With Silent Death here, we'll have to be careful about what we eat, though since he has very little magical strength, I'm pretty sure that he trained in the Muggle area of the Academy, rather than that of the Wizards, his powers were so weak, so that least he can't get poison into the school by magic," Sirius thought aloud.

 Harry nodded his head. "I will use my magic to warn me if anyone attempts to leave, or if any magical spell is done within the tunnel or the house, once I have determind who performed the spell, I'll leave it to do it's business, provided it isn't harmful to anyone," he said.

 "That'll be a relief, he might ask one of the wizards to do something about getting the poison to us," Sirius said, relief easy to hear in his voice. 

 Harry smiled. "Now that I know how to destroy Voldemort, we need to move, fast. He is taking control faster now, with the new powers that he is gaining, and we need to try and get rid of him before he can do anything to destroy _us_," he said, voice cold. "I am recalling the Young Phoenixes, what of the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry looked to Sirius now. 

"As far as I know," Sirius replied softly, "they will do anything that they can to help you. I am not sure who the head of the Order is now, since Dumbledore stepped down, and I haven't actively joined in with them yet …"

 "Can you do that?" Harry demanded immediately.

 "Yes. I've been asked on more than one occasion, and I'm sure that Menolly will be asked the same, when she arrives," Sirius replied.

 "Do so please, we need to know where they stand. The 'final battle' is fast approaching, and, I believe, is the time at which I must fulfill my Atlantean destiny," Harry told them, eyes flashing with his conviction.

 "Right Harry, we'll do our best. The Order of the Phoenix has concentrated mainly on political stuff since it was brought back this time, what with Fudge being around and such. I'll try to get them to see that they have to concentrate on learning to fight, and fight well… I might even be able to convince them to train with the Young Phoenixes with the Seekers, but don't count on it," Sirius replied.

 "That is all that I needed," Harry responded calmly. "We'd best go, homework to do," he added.

 Waving goodbye to Sirius, the pair of them headed back up to the Gryffindor common room.

 It took a few days for the Young Phoenixes to properly assemble, as many of those who'd left Hogwarts had jobs now, but that weekend was going to prove an interesting one.

 "Everyone," Harry said, addressing the gathered Young Phoenixes in Sirius's chambers. "Several Seekers from the Academy are here, now, and will teach you to fight, though they will not teach you as they did me, with the need for constant spying on your neighbors and such. You must remember – you have to trust your friends here, they will save your lives more often than once in the upcoming battles, but while you trust them you _cannot_ trust the Seekers at all, no matter how nice they might seem. 

 "They are poison, and they will not balk at killing you, should you get in the way of their plans. Unfortunately, they are the only ones who can train you properly, and therefore I must leave you in their hands. Be careful," he told them, eyes filled with trepadition.

 The young people in front of him nodded in quiet agreement. "We'll be careful," Cho Chang promised, her voice sincere.

 "Good," Harry responded drily. "Now, they'll be here soon, you'll have to break up for the training. Hogwarts students, you'll be doing your training in the afternoons after lessons, or on weekends when the others can't come, because they'll need all the time that they can get to train," he added.

 The Hogwarts students nodded, and left quickly, since they all had their homework to do. "What the man called Silent Death," Harry gave an aditional warning to those who were still present. "I don't think that he is really loyal to those here… even as much as the others are loyal, which isn't much in the first place. He deals in poisons more than anything else, but watch him none the less, and don't accept anything he gives you – not a good idea to accept a gift from _any_ Seeker, but him more than any other."

 They nodded, and Harry knew that they would not trust the Seekers very far, which was deffinately a good thing.

 "I'll be here as well, being a Seeker myself. If you need help, just call me, and I'll make sure none of the Seeker do anything that might harm you, or the rest of the Wizarding World," he could sense the relief in the air from that remark.

 A moment later the door opened at the Seekers walked in, following the huge black dog that was Sirius, he'd led them through a series of secret passageways, but they'd had a charm placed on them so that they would not remember that path in an hours time. 

 Tiger looked at Harry from the head of his company. "You won't mind if I take over now?" he asked calmly. 

 Harry merely gave a suggestion of a bow and a slight smile as he stepped back. Some of the Seekers watched him thoughtfully, as if wondering just what he was planning – Harry had decided that one of the best ways to keep a Seeker occupied was to make them think that you had a plot, when you didn't.

 This left you free to do what you felt like, and they'd just think that it was part of a very careful plot … you couldn't tell a Seeker that there _wasn't_ a plot, not unless you wanted to convince them completely, at least.

 Smiling to himself, he took up a possition on the sidelines, watching the goings on with a faint smile, as he hadn't actually properly _taught_ before, he had informed Tiger that he would simply watch today, and see what he could do towards keeping the students alive and the Seekers from being too violent – of course, the Young Phoenixes _were_ like the First Level in the Seekers Academy, who no one ever hurt, but who could tell what was going to happen here?

 The lesson went well, as far as Harry was concerned, and 'his' people showed the Seekers that they weren't as bad as they had previously thought their new students would be.

 He didn't try to help anyone that lesson, because he didn't think that the Seekers would appreciate that breach of protocol – assassins and law breakers though they may be, Seekers had a great sense of honor, which to some seemed odd.

 For the next month, Harry watched 'his' fighters training, Menolly and Sirius presented their case to the Order of the Phoenix, who accepted to be tutored in fighting arts by the Seekers.

 "You need not fear that this is the way things will be dealt with in future," Harry assured Tiger one morning. "We must have fighters fast now, for there a great battles on the horizon, and we need the strength that your Seekers are giving us."

 "I had no doubt of that, and may I congratulate you on your handling of Dagger's attack," Tiger said, bowing slightly to Harry.

 Harry smiled faintly in acceptance of the compliment. "Thank you," while his mind screamed '_why did she have to die?' his dislike of killing people without much reason was unknown by Tiger though, and Harry had to keep it that way. _

 "I must go now, Tiger, but I shall see you tomorrow for your lesson," he stated, and hurried away, leaving Tiger to slip out of the castle to his hide away.

 Harry raced up the stairs, because Dumbledore had wanted to speak with him in the Headmasters office, five minutes ago. Racing flat out, Harry made it to the gargoyle in record time, Dumbledore was just coming out of the room as he arrived.

 The old mans face had been filled with worry, but a lot of it dissapeared when he saw Harry. "Harry! Good, I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to you!"

 "I'm sorry," Harry said, "I was speaking with Tiger."

 "Ah, our current 'Head Seeker' as some of the students call him," Dumbledore said gravely. "Yes, a conversation with him would be important, but now we need your council."

 Harry's ears pricked at the word 'we' and he could barely hide a startled exclamation at the word 'council'.

 "I am at your disposal, of course," Harry replied thoughtfully.

 Dumbledore smiled. "That is good … I think that this is something that you have been waiting for."

 This caught Harry's attention, and the young man hurried up the stairs towards Dumbledore's office, the Headmaster hurrying to keep up with him. "No need to run, Harry, nothing will happen until you arrive."

 Harry only laughed and pushed open the door, he bit back a cry of surprise, Severus Snape was half sitting half lying on a couch, covered head to foot in very nasty looking wounds.

 Without being asked, and ignoring his Professors orders to the negative, Harry caught the Potion Masters hands in his own, concentrating on his magic, sending it flowing into the other man, healing his most hated teachers wounds with complete ease.

 He let go of Snape's hands and stood, striding to a seat, were he collapsed and looked around at the wondering expressions on all faces but Sirius and Dumbledores.

 "I suppose it's time to lose the deceptions," he remarked ligthly. "I am a Wandless and Elemental Mage, taught by our esteemed Headmasters great uncle, I think it was … who died before he could impart _all_ of his knowledge, though he gave me the ground work to learn much of the rest on my own, or with the help of some other friends of mine."

 The teachers – Snape especially – were staring at him.

 "Perhaps you should tell them who your friends are, Harry, for it might be best for everyone if they understand exactly why I chose to include you in this confrence," Dumbledore suggested softly.

 Harry sighed, then gave an account of his visits to Atlantis, but with a few things that no one else had known – he shocked Sirius by the revelation that he had been able to speak with his parents, so greatly that his godfather was in danger of crying in public.

 By the end of his tale, the teachers were looking at him with a definate respect.

 "So you know how to kill Voldemort, that's good," Snape remarked darkly.  
 "And that brings us to the real reason we are assembled," Dumbledore said, his usual cheerfulness was gone now, replaced by a tired graveness. "Severus, if you would explain?"

 Snape stood up to address the group of people in the office, a combination of teachers and Ministry officals Harry knew to be part of the Order of the Phoenix

 "You-Know-Who discovered where my true loyalties lie yesterday afternoon," he stated. "The dark lord had been discussing a plan to attack Hogwarts once more, and apparently decided that I wasn't to be trusted any longer.

 "I should have died that day, but thanks to another spy in the Death Eaters I escaped, though the dark lord believes me to be dead at the hands of his torturers.

 "The attack will take place next Saturday, on the day of the Quidditch match, Gryffindor against Hufflepuff. They believe that the occupants of the school will be on the pitch and will not notice the invasion until it's too late," Snape stated, his black eyes cold. "They will attack a little while after the match should begin."

 "Well, the first thing that must be done is for the Quidditch Match to be cancelled," Harry remarked coolly, not bothering to stand. "Also, we'll have to prevent any letters leaving the school, or at least examine them.

 "You should allow me to do that, as I will know if the students are lying – as I said before, that is one of my talents. That way we know that no knowledge will reach Voldemort's" most people in the room flinched at that, "ears."

 Dumbledore nodded. "I had thought this would be a good idea myself," he agreed. "Do you have any other suggestions?" 

 "I will see what I can do about oragnising a defense of the castle, but the Young Phoenixes will use the knowledge that they have gained through their lessons with me and the other Seekers to help fight, and I pressume that I can count on the aid of the Order of the Phoenix in this as well?" Harry looked around the room.

 All of the people nodded. "We will do whatever necessary to destroy our foe," Dumbledore spoke for everyone.

 "Normally I would try to draw the attack away from here, but it's too dangerous to allow Voldemort to continue in the way he has been. This attack will seal the fate of the wizarding world – if I succeed, Voldemort will be gone forever, but if I do not, he has won, it is just a matter of him," Harry stated, meeting everyone eyes to show them that he was perfectly serious. 

 "Because you can only perform the spell once in safety?" McGonagall questioned.

 "Exactly that," Harry agreed coolly. "I know that it is a lot to place on the shoulders of one person, but I am the only person with this knoweldge, and that _must_ remain that way – for the safety of the world. The knowledge of this spell is not a good thing, for though in this case it is for a good cause, it is undenably a dark arts spell," again he met everyones eyes.

 "I don't know the outcome of this, but we can only hope that, for the good of the wizarding world, it is a favourable one," he added.

 Then they settled down to discussing the nuances of the plan for the next Saturday, and Harry pretty much tuned out, talking to Elisa and getting her to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened.

 Finally they reached an idea that sat well with everyone – Harry wasn't sure exactly what it was, only the parts that he'd play in it, and, to be honest, that was about all he _really cared about in any case. _

 With Sirius at his side, Harry headed out of the room, leaving the other people inside to continue talking on other things to do with the Order of the Phoenix - Sirius didn't like staying in the meetings for very long unless he had a good reason to, and as far as he was concerned the main important things had already been covered.

 "Well, that took the fun out of fighting," Sirius remarked disgustedly. 

 "Are they always like that with plans?" Harry asked, feeling much the same about the talking the plan down to it's boring base.

 "Unfortunately," Sirius muttered waspishly.

 Harry laughed. "I'll give you a duel?" He offered, immediately Sirius brightened up and nodded.

 Both of them shifted form and bolted for Sirius's rooms.

 The next morning Harry was up early as per usual, the Gryffindors who were in training with the Seekers were up as well, going through a training exercise in the Great Hall before the other students arrived for breakfast.

 When the first perons – a Slytherin – walked into the hall, he found everyone seeted and waiting for the rest of the school to arrive, no sign that they'd been fighting moments before. 

 Harry had told 'his' fighters what was coming up already, decided that they deserved to know the truth before anyone else did, and everyone was a little peeved at the idea of missing out on the Quidditch game.

 When everyone was assembled, the teachers included, Dumbledore stood up.

 "The Ministry of Magic has decided that Quidditch Games are a danger in these times, with Lord Voldemort doing so much damage, it's only a matter of time before he tries to attack Hogwarts again, and this time he is likely to be more prepared," Dumbledore stated, talking straight over the complaints.

 "Also, by new Ministry regulations, anyone who has a letter to send home must take it Mr. Harry Potter, who will ask you a set of questions. He will have a few detectors with him to determine whether or not your lying.

 "These questions will mainly be 'does this letter contain any information that Lord Voldemort or his Death Eaters will be able to use if they get hold of the letter' and 'is this letter coded in any way.'

 "It is unfortunate that we must suspect students of being Death Eaters, or sending information to Death Eaters, but in these troubled times it is needed," Dumbledore finished.

 The Hall exploded in sound, and Harry sighed and went back to eating his food, not paying much attention to the rest of the schools screamed questions and other such things.

 He still thought that they should tell them about the impending attack, but the 'Council' had decided to leave that until the Friday, so that the students wouldn't have as much time to panic.

 Harry shook his head slightly and stood up with the rest of his year to head for Potions. 

 When they arrived, Snape was standing in the front of the class, watching everyone with his usual beady black eyes and sneer. Harry walked into the room last of all and nodded to the teacher.

 To the surprise of everyone, Snape merely nodded back and began the lesson. The Slytherins were all staring at Harry – as usual, he wasn't punished, but Snape had acknowledged his greeting? 

 The next few days flew by, and Harry was becoming increasingly difficult to find, as was Elisa – they rarely came to lessons, having to much to do with their time to bother.

 Talking to Dumbledore, they'd received his permission to do so, for which they were very grateful.

 They spent most of their time in the room, working with the things that Harry had collected there. Elisa was doing her best to help Harry by sharing her magical powers with him while he was working with the Elemental Stones.

 Harry had two dozen of them now, most of them containing magical strength, some of which he had gathered in Atlantis, "it's a good thing we had an extra year, really," he remarked once to Elisa. "I don't think I'd have enough power for what I have to do otherwise."

 He was now carefully taking some of the magic back into himself, and he could tell that magic had grown stronger from it's time in the Stones.

 On Thursday evening they left their hideaway and came to dinner. The whole school watched them, since it was an oft-asked question as to where they could have gone.

 Harry walked straight up to Dumbledore, talking softly to him, and the Headmaster listened to him with a grave look on his face, when Harry had finished, he nodded and stood up, Harry slipping back into the shadows behind the table.

 "Students," he said, and instant silence fell, for no one had ever heard his voice sounding this grave before. "We have just received word from a believable source that Lord Voldemort will be attacking Hogwarts this Saturday.

 "We urge you not to panic, we have people working on our defenses already, and our two resident Seekers have had some of their fellows helping to teach several students, teachers and former students fighting arts. 

 "We believe that this may not be the trap that Lord Voldemort intends it to be – we are hoping to turn the tables on him and rid the world of him once and for all. 

 "Please do what you can to help with the preperations for the attack and do your best not to disturb anyone, especially Mr. Harry Potter," Dumbledore finished and sat down, as talking broke out in the Hall. 

 Harry and Elisa grabbed some food from the Gryffindor Table and headed out of the Hall again, ignoring the stares that they got from the rest of the students.

 "Why'd you get Professor Dumbledore to tell them now?" Elisa asked Harry, looking slightly surprised.

 "Hm? Oh, I thought it would be more believable if I did it that way, rather than him announcing it out of the blue tomorrow morning … and that also gives us a lot more help tomorrow, if classes are cancelled," Harry replied, shrugging.

 "What are we doing now?" Elisa asked as Harry led the way back to 'their' room.

 "I'm going to call my parents and ask them to take word to Atlantis to be ready for the bridge to be formed, I'm getting a really strong feeling that it is going to be soon," Harry replied.

 "Right. Isn't that dangerous, calling them? It takes a lot of magical power, and you shouldn't be wasting any of it now," Elisa asked in concern. 

 "I know," Harry responded with a faint sigh. "But they have to know, and I'm the only person who can tell them. I'm serious tempted to go back to Atlantis tonight and get some more magic saved up, but we can't risk that so close to an attack."

 Elisa nodded wearily.

 "Harry!" Lily and James greeted their son with loud yells as they appeared, ghost like and unsolid in the room. 

 "Mum, dad," Harry greeted them with a smile. "I have to talk to you, now."

 He told them everything that was happening. "I can't keep you here for long, but I had to get the message across," he added.

 James nodded sadly. "I'm sorry Harry," he said softly. "I wish that we could stay longer and talk, and we both wish you well in the fight – don't forget to kill Voldemort!"

 "We'll take your message to Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram, not to worry," Lily added. "Be safe, my son."

 Then they were gone. Harry sat down wearily. "Harry, if you put a bit more magic into the stones, then sleep, you'll replenish it, and you haven't slept in ages, you have to sleep now so that you won't be tired on Saturday," Elisa ordered him.

 Harry laughed softly, but knew that his sister was right. Taking a stone, he carefully drained some of his magic into it, then fell onto the couch, asleep in moments.

 Harry woke later in the afternoon and immediately bounded to his feet to begin working on the school's defenses.

 "Don't worry Harry, the Professors have done that already," Elisa told him. "Dumbledore awakened some anciet protections and then the other teachers added some stuff on the castle to make sure that no Death Eater could get inside and harm the students.

 Harry nodded but stood anyway. "I'll go and add some more power to them, and I'd better go and talk to the Unicorns in the forest so that they can warn the other creatures about the upcoming attack."

 Elisa sighed and let him get up, since she knew from experience that it was impossible to keep him in bed if he thought needed to be done.

 *What do you want this time?* The leader of the unicorn herd demanded of Harry.

 Unfazed, Harry looked up at the creature calmly. *My Lord of the Herd,* he greeted the other politely, *I have come to warn you of an upcoming attack on the Castle by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. He is trying to destroy the place completely, and I was hoping that -*

 *We will not aid you,* the unicorn informed him coldly and turned away.

 *That was not what I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask you to tell the rest of the creatures and ask them to try and keep out of the way of the fighting, we do not want you or your fellows to be hurt,* Harry yelled after the creature. 

 The unicorn turned to look at him for a moment. *It shall be done* it said after a moment, then resumed it's walk away from him.

 Bloody unicorns, Harry thought to himself, before heading for the Shreiking Shack.

 "To what do we owe the honour?" Tiger asked him, eyes flashing with the light of battle, as Harry had already given word to him about the upcoming fight.

 "I was hoping that you and yours would do an all day lesson tomorrow, so that we know which students are ready, and how they will cope with an extended fight," Harry replied coolly.

 Tiger looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, and Harry – there will be Seekers fighting you on Saturday, so be careful."

 Harry grinned. "I'm always careful of Seekers," he replied, "and of Death Eaters, therefor I will be doubly cautious."

 Tiger shook his head slightly, watching the young Seeker depart. "I don't know why, but I hope you live through tomorrow, kid," he said softly to himself.

 Harry raced back up the castle, looking over the defenses with a practiced eye, and sending small bits of his own magic to strengthen any place that needed it.

 Finally he smiled to himself and entered the castle, his eyes sad as he watched the students – his friends – eating their meal, and wondering whether any of them would be alive at the end of the weekend.

 Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he sat at the Gryffindor Table for the first time that week and sent the word through his friends about the day long lesson on the morrow.

 The next day Harry fought along with his students, feeling the need for a good, long fight, as he hadn't really had a chance to do much training lately.

 Careful to watch all of 'his' fighters, Harry made notes of those who should do what the following day.

 The younger students had all been taught how to do the stunning curse, and would be stationed at windows and doors stunning any Death Eater who came near, or the ones in the fighting to give their older defenders a better chance.

 Harry called a meeting of the Young Phoenixes and their older counterparts, the Order of the Phoenix that night.

 "Everyone, tomorrow is the day that makes or breaks the wizarding world, and I've been giving a lot of thought to how we should fight.

 "I believe that the best way is to be in teams, with one person who is really good at curses, one who is good at healing, and one or two who are good at weapons, that way there are no weaknesses in the team.

 "I've been watching you all to see who would be best for what roles, but first I'll ask you to move into groups of where _you think you should be," he gave them places to group together. "Then I'll tell you where __I think you should be, if you aren't already there. Go now please!"_

 The teenagers and adults moved into groups, Harry and Elisa remained standing at the front, as they would not be in a group like this, they had their own work to do.

 It took some time to get everything organized properly, and by the time everyone had been given their tasks it was getting on in the night. 

"Everyone, eat a big meal tonight, but only lightly in the morning – it's not a good idea to have a lot of food in yoru stomach while fighting. And get a _really good sleep tonight, you are seriously going to need it! If you can't sleep, take a sleeping potion, I don't care if they get addictive, this is a one off!"_

 With that the teachers and students headed out of the room, leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Menolly and Elisa behind.

 "You have to get that sleep too mate," Elisa told him firmly, and Harry chuckled slightly.

 "I know, and I will too, replenish my magic supplies. You guys are going to be alright?" he added, looking over his real family.

 There were nods all around. "Harry, I keep getting the feeling that something really bad is going to happen tomorrow," Hermione told him with a faint sigh. "You be really careful!"

 "I'll do whatever I must, Mina, to get rid of Voldemort, even should that bring my death," Harry's voice told them that he was completely serious. "But I will try my best to avoid that death, I promise you that!"

 "That is the best you can do," Hermione's voice was sad, "I know it well, Harry, and if for some reason it _does bring your death, we'll make sure the rest of your plans are fulfilled."_

 Harry, Elisa and Sirius waited for everyone else to leave. "Sirius, will my death be the same for as if my father had died?" Harry asked his godfather.

 "Yes, I think so, because I was to live to protect you," Sirius responded with a sigh. "But I don't know for sure."

 "Well, if I _do die, you and Elisa _must_ live – Sirius, you for your new baby, it should have the luxury of growing up with it's parents, and Elisa, you must live your life to the fullest, no matter what!" he told them. "I don't want to leave any loose ends, though I will not die until _both_ of my destinies are fulfilled, I know that Voldemort will not kill me."_

 The next day, Harry was disgusted to note, began with a brilliant sunrise, the birds making the air seem alive with their joyous cries to the rising sun. 

 "A nice day to die," Elisa remarked dryly over his shoulder, "too nice for Death Eaters."

**********************************************************

*laughs* well, next chapter is the fight, and possibly more, but you'll find that out when I want to put it up, won't you! Review and I'll do that faster! Again, thanks come at the end of the story now! Cya all next chapter!!

~WolfMoon~


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

 Harry crouched in front of the school, his eyes on the sky, waiting for the signal that only his eyes would pick up. It wasn't long in the coming – he caught sight of an object hurtling through the sky.

 It wasn't actually an 'object' but rather a spell that was trained to Harry's eyes. He stood up and signalled with a spell to the 'troops' hidden around Hogwarts – the enemy was coming.

 He was nervous – there was a lot resting on his shoulders today, and frankly, he wasn't sure if he could do it.

 He glanced around, sharp eyes noting everything. All was in readiness, and the Death Eaters still thought that the school would be at the Quidditch Pitch watching the game.

 To that effect Harry and the teachers had worked to create a huge illusion that made it seem like there _were people there, and a came going on._

 There were several 'teams' hidden among the crowds, invisible, to deal with the Death Eaters who came there, Harry was fairly sure that Voldemort wouldn't go there himself – if he tried, Harry would be there to distract him.

 'Elisa? You ready?' Harry asked her, not turning his head to look at the girl behind him.

 'No. I'll never be ready for something like this,' Elisa responded darkly. 'Could anyone be?'

 'A Seeker could,' Harry responded dryly.

 'Seekers are not included in this discussion,' Elisa informed him waspishly. 'Seekers are not included in the general term 'anyone' because Seekers are not normal!'

 'Who'd want to be normal?' Harry demanded, his mind skipping back in time to his 'normal' relatives.

 He sensed his sister rolling her eyes as he returned his attention to the upcoming fight. In his pockets were weightless Elemental Stones, ready for his need.

 Suddenly he saw them, and his breath caught, for there hundreds upon hundreds of people – Death Eaters, Dementors, and any other creature mad enough to join with Voldemort.

'Shit there's a lot of them,' Elisa remarked darkly.

 'There's a lot of us,' Harry reminded her calmly watching as the force split. As Harry had suspected, Voldemort headed the party that went into the Castle to make sure that there was no one around. 

 Harry had made sure that all of the passwords in the common rooms had changed just that morning, and had all of the second and third years concealed in their respective rooms, they would come out when Harry had the invaders outside again.

 Harry glanced over to the Quidditch Pitch – probably about time to make an appearance of sorts.

 Pointing his hand in the direction of the Pitch, he called a Patronus to appear in the stadium – it was slightly more difficult this way, but there was no way that he could risk Voldemort seeing the Patronus come from anywhere else.

 The huge stag appeared in the field almost immediately, scaring away the Dementors, and Harry watched with a faint smile as a few of his 'teams' appeared, falling on the Death Eaters and stunning them all.

  He knew that Voldemort would be watching, and, having seen this happen, would send more Death Eaters out there before anyone could get back to the castle.

 Sure enough, another set of Dementors and Death Eaters came out of the castle a minute later, and Harry's Patronus charged them almost before they could get out the door.

 The Dementors fled, and Harry could actually hear Voldemort cursing as he ordered more Death Eaters outside and down to the pitch. 

 Harry smirked – twenty Death Eaters would be no match for the teams down on the Pitch, they would be defeated just as the last lot had been.

 'Time to go inside, Eli,' Harry told her, standing up and stretching, taking advantage of the invisibility charm he'd cast on them.

 'Right, following the fun?' Elisa remarked with dark humour. Harry laughed in silently and hurried up the stairs, slipping inside just before the doors managed to get closed by the Death Eaters.

 Harry and Elisa hurried into the Great Hall and slipped into one corner where they wouldn't be in the way of anything. A team of Death Eaters entered the room a short time later.

 "Where are the prisoners? Surely not everyone can be out at the game, some of them must be in the Library or the Common Rooms?" Voldemort said, snake like eyes watching his followers coldly.

 "M-my lord," one of them stuttered, "the doors to the library were locked, and no magic would let us past them," Harry had done that so that none of the books would be harmed, as Hogwarts had a very extensive collection, and it would he hard, even impossible, to replace some of them.

 "And the Common Rooms?" Voldemort's voice was deceptively calm.

 Shivering with fear, the Death Eater answered, "none of the passwords that you gave us worked, master."

 "I see. And why not? You did not say them correctly. You will go down to the pitch now and see what's happening to my Death Eaters down there, if you let yourself get caught-" he let the threat hang.

 The Death Eater bowed, though Harry knew that the man would never succeed in his mission, the defenders were too well equipped.

 Looking over the forces, Harry saw far too many people in Seeker robes, about fifty, and that was bad, as there were only twelve on the Hogwarts side, plus a lot of people in training.

 It took a while for Voldemort to realise that it just wasn't working, sending people one after the other to be attacked by the people on the pitch. 

 It took even longer for him to realise that something was wrong – why weren't people coming to see where all of the other Death Eaters were.

 It was then that everything seemed to add up in the Dark Lords mind, and just as he was about to snarl at one of the Death Eaters for not realising that it was a trap, the _fun started._

 Suddenly all of the Death Eaters were transformed into the headless chickens 'headless chickens, Harry?' Elisa asked him.

 Harry glanced innocently at her. 'That's how they generally seem to act,' he replied.

 Their chairs became platters of baked vegetables and Voldemort's robes became … you guess it … PINK! He was also now wearing a pink witches hat with a vulture on top (an: don't you just LOVE that scene in PoA?).

 'What happens now?' Elisa asked.

 'All of the little headless chickens – or Death Eaters, whatever – are going outside, it's part of the spell, our nice pink witch – or Voldemort – follows them in fury. The prank reverses in five minutes time once they are all really furious and the battle begins,' Harry replied, as though it were obvious. 'Come on, let's go outside!'

 Shaking her head at the insanity of her brother, Elisa followed him outside, where chaos was currently unfolding.

 'Harry, is this supposed to happen?' Elisa asked.

 'Sure it is,' Harry replied with a grin. 'I'll just lock the doors now, there aren't any Death Eaters still in there, so I can call out the younger students to guard the windows and stuff, and the real fighting can start.'

 Elisa sighed almost soundlessly as the doors slammed loudly shut and Harry's magic bound it that way, at the same time the Death Eaters were once more human.

 Harry quickly activated a magical message that had been specially set to be triggered by the ending of this first 'prank' spell, which appeared in all of the common rooms to let the students know it was safe.

 Voldemort was shrieking in fury – Harry hadn't got rid of the vulture-topped hat, so he looked incredibly ridiculous.

 The rest of the teams were heading up from their vantage points, waiting for the signal to attack. Harry wanted to be sure that he knew they were all present before he gave this signal, knowing that it would be fatal to time it wrong.

 Finally, he knew that he could wait no longer, 'ready?' he asked Elisa, a daredevil grin spreading over his face.

 'No. Let's do it!' Elisa replied.

 Harry chuckled aloud and the pair of them leapt into the fight, for a moment keeping the invisibility charm up for maximum advantage, then it was time to discard that and get back up in.

 Dropping the invisibility charm, neither Harry nor Elisa had any time to even think of that as they spun into action, dodging the spells of the Death Eaters.

 Suddenly the air was filled with war cries as the teams poured out from their hiding places, shedding invisibility spells, the air alive with curses.

 Smiling grimly, Harry took out a Death Eater with a thrown dagger, spinning around to slash his sword across another's throat, dropping to his knee to avoid a spell, catching another opponent with a throwing star.

 He and Elisa quickly got themselves back to back, Elisa held her wand in one hand and a short sword in the other, and Harry had the Sword of Salazar Slytherin in one hand, the other free for numerous throwing implements. 

 In a momentary lull in the battle around them, Harry stole the opportunity to glance over the rest of the battle field, relieved to see that everyone was fighting well, and there hadn't seemed to be any fatalities yet.

 Then the fighting began again, Harry and Elisa, keeping back to back since they were the only ones on their 'team', moved towards Voldemort, who was at the centre of the battle, yelling orders to those around him to get the attackers.

 Harry growled under his breather – stinking coward, that's right, leave the fighting to your underlings, don't put yourself at any danger, he thought furiously.

 Shaking such thoughts from his mind, Harry nearly swore as he came up against a man in Seeker robes – one of the enemy Seekers, at that. The man smirked at him and tucked his wand away.

 Harry was amused, it seemed that the man was going to forfeit his 'advantage' in the fight. He obviously hadn't heard about Harry's capabilities of Wandless magic.

 Though, Harry thought, to be polite, he might as well not use his magic in this fight. The duel began, and Harry ducked beneath the Seekers fist, his foot snapping out – not anticipating this move, the Seeker stumbled, leaving Harry to score a vicious kick to the other's head.

 On his feet again, this time more wary, the Seeker circle Harry, trying to get the boys back to the Death Eaters, but Elisa kept behind him, for which Harry was grateful.

 Suddenly Harry lashed out with one sword and threw a dagger – his last – at the other Seeker, scoring a direct on the others chest. The man dropped like a stone. Dead.

 "Contra ipse" he whispered, and instantly all of his throwing weapons which had been left in the dead bodies of his opponents glowed gold and returned to him.

 Elisa still at Harry's back, the pair of them leapt into the fray once more, occasionally coming across other groups in the fighting, joining for a moment together, then moving on.

 Closer and closer to Voldemort, that was all that Harry could think, closer and closer to the Final Battle. Suddenly he and Elisa stumbled out of the fighting, for a moment wondering where the press of bodies had gone, before they realised – and by that time it was already too late.

 Voldemort had raised his wand and cried out the two words that were previously the most powerful and devastating on the world.

 "_Avada Kedavra!"_ Harry screamed in pain as the green light burst past him and stuck Elisa, his sister, bound to him, mind to mind, he felt as she did the last moments of her life.

 "_Eliiisaa!"_ Harry cried with the pain of losing his friends and protector, suddenly he spun, green-gold eyes flaming and filled with pain and insanity.

 Voldemort took an unconscious step backwards, away from the furious young man before him. He'd thought that Potter would be a push-over, even after what had happened the last time the pair of them had met in a battle, but he wasn't prepared for this.

 "You killed my sister," Harry's voice was utterly devoid of emotion, his eyes focused on the Dark Lord with an expressionless face. But the fury was there, so great that it appeared not to be…

 And that _really_ scared Voldemort.

 The Dark Lord raised his wand, yelling the words to the only he spell he thought could help him – "_Avada Kedavra!" but his opponent simply smiled slightly._

 Harry reached into a pocked, drawing his own wand, mostly unused these days, but preserved for precisely this purpose. With a sigh, he used the same spell he had the _last_ time this had happened. "Stupefy!" he yelled.

 Almost immediately the beams of light that were the spells connected, forming a golden line. Harry held tightly onto the wand, in case it decided to lift them up again, but as they were on flat ground and there was a circle of space around them, they remained where they were as rays of gold splintered away from the original connection line.

 The Death Eaters immediately left their battles to try and get close enough to Voldemort to help him. Harry smirked slightly – he'd thought they'd do this.

 One of the enemy Seekers was trying to get the Death Eaters to turn around and deal with the attackers, but he was killed by Sirius's blade before he could do much good. 

 The Seekers who were 'loyal' to Voldemort immediately left their Death Eater allies to their doom and concentrated on fighting for their own lives.

 Harry, however, thrust this from his mind – the little golden ball was heading his way, and he would let Voldemort have it again, he thought. After all, there weren't many spells that would come from his own wand.

 Forgetting everything but the ball, Harry concentrated his will and _shoved_ at the little thing, he gave a satisfied smirk as it shot back towards Voldemort.

 But it seemed that Voldemort had learned a thing or two from their last meeting, and he concentrated, pushing the ball a tiny bit towards Harry.

 "Pitiful," Harry called tauntingly to his opponent, and once more gathered his will to shove at the ball, it again snapped back towards Voldemort, a lot faster than he'd managed to get it the first time this spell had happened at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

 Voldemort once more tried to keep it from coming to his wand, but Harry gathered his will and shoved harder than ever – this time he could easily sense the resistance that Voldemort had given the ball. 

 _Not that it helped_, Harry though dispassionately as the ball connected with Voldemort's wand tip.

 Harry couldn't contain his rage as the first figure out of the wand was Elisa, his sister, and the moment she could, she rose and strode to stand as she had in life, behind his shoulder.

 The rest of the spells began to immerge, mainly Cruciatos curses for some time, as there hadn't been an attack in a while.

 Harry nearly cried, seeing how many of them were children. The little ghostlike figures came hurrying over to Harry to hide behind his legs and peer out at the creature that killed them.

 As they had before, the adult figures paced the circle, murmuring encouragement to Harry, or even holding whispered conversations so that Voldemort couldn't hear them.

 Harry knew that he would be waiting here for some time, because he wanted to talk to his parents before he did what he had too.

 "Was your dying painful?" Harry asked his sister softly.

 "No," Elisa replied. "I hardly knew what had happened, because I had my back turned to Voldemort, which was really quite stupid, I suppose."

 Harry sighed. "Well, at least I'll be able to talk to you in the Garden of the Spirits," he remarked quietly.

 "Yeah," Elisa agreed. "Are you waiting for your parents? You'll be here a while."

 "It doesn't matter, I want them to see the downfall of their murderer," Harry replied stoutly, and Elisa sighed. 

 Finally out came Bertha Jorkins. "You back again are you? How long has it been since the last time?" She asked him.

 "Two years," Harry replied with a faint smile. 

 "I thought that was about it, it's a bit difficult to tell the passing of time, though I do know most of the events that happened. You've been very busy!" She said, grinning slightly.

 Then it was Frank Bryce. "You get that bad un this time boy, get him right and proper," the old man told him firmly. 

 "Oh, believe me, Frank, that's _exactly what I intend to do," Harry replied, a grim smile playing over his lips. Suddenly, there was his father._

 "Harry! Why did you let this happen?" James asked as he made it to Harry's side. "You should have killed him and been done with it!"

 "I wanted you to see the death of your murderer," Harry told him stoutly as his mother joined them.

 "Thank you for thinking of us, Harry, but you know that you cannot cast the spell while this phenomenon is still happening," Lily told him firmly.

 Harry smiled slightly. "I know. But since a lot of the spell is to do with the preparation of the mind and the gathering of power, I decided to leave things until the last moment before I needed to cast the spell, then break this one and kill that monster once and for all.

 The shades of the dead people gathered around Harry, their smoky bodies blocking Voldemort's view of him, and Harry reached into a pocket with one hand, finding a stone with his magic in it, and drew sharply, gathering it all in his mind, before doing the same with three of his other Elemental Stones.

 Gasping with the effort of holding onto so much power, Harry wrenched his wand upwards, and cried out the words to the spell that would end this forever.

 "_Supremusa moribundusa_!" Golden light flamed around him, striking at Voldemort, the air singing as the magic flashed through it. Through a gap in the shades, Harry could see the expression of shock on Voldemort's face – the dark lord had know idea what was happening.

 Harry had hit the ground on his back from the strength of the spell exploding in front of him, and he raised himself up slightly, propping himself with an elbow to watch the defeat of his enemy, as were all of the shades, even as they began to thin and disappear.

 Harry couldn't see what happened when the golden light hit his enemy, but when it cleared all that was left of Voldemort was some charred black robes.

 Then Harry felt it, Voldemort's magical power, that he had been enhancing by stealing the magic of dying witches and wizards. Harry for a moment shied away from the darkness, then realised just what he could do with that power.

 Rather than let it all to go waste, Harry sent out his powers, gathering the magic before it could disappear, not noticing the Death Eaters who were fleeing from the scene with their masters death.

 Nor did he hear the cheers of his allies, as they realised that they had won, the battle was over and life could go on without the threat of the dark lord.

 Harry reached into his pocket again, pulling every ounce of stored magic and anything else, especially the wakefulness, because he was worn out that he was going to go to sleep if he didn't do something about it soon.

 His mind once more threatened to go into overload with the amount of magic that was racing through his mind, but again he had a use for it.

 He held it firmly as he began his work, weaving the magic to create a strong hold for it, then, using the magic as something sharp and pointy, he thrust it through what in his mind was the border between Earth and Atlantis.

 Once he had punched through this, he could actually see through a 'hole' in the air, looking straight at the front doors of the palace. Reaching his magic through the gap he began to weave the spell to a close on the other side, even as the 'hole' widened to become a gateway.

 Through the gate he could see his friends, Lilith and Jaram with their two children, Sky Dawn, Tigris, Karan and many others.

 He released the spell, and suddenly realised that he'd used too much effort today, he fell back, lying flat on the ground, panting slightly.

 He could feel his life slipping away from him, he caught onto it, holding it in a weakening grip.

 He knew that he was going to die, and there was nothing that he could do to stop that process, only halt it for a short time.

 Through the gateway between worlds someone was running fast, and with a jolt, Harry realised it was Sky Dawn. What was she doing – she was crying? Why was that?

With a detachment he didn't feel, Harry realised that his mind was losing the ability to think clearly.

 "Ferux?" Sky Dawn whispered, dropping to her knees beside him. Other were there now – he could vaguely recognize them, for his vision was hazy.

 "Harry?" That was Sirius, Ron and Hermione, they were talking at once and it was kind of hard to tell who was speaking.

 "Guys?" his voice was so weak, Harry was astounded and wished that he could take it back. Then again, he was dying, did it matter what he sounded like?

 Probably not, he mused to himself.

 "Harry, hold on, there must be something we can do!" Sirius's voice was frantic, mixing with the voices of others – it seemed that everyone had realised that something was wrong with him.

 Harry smiled faintly, "there's nothing left to do Sirius – I've done what I had to, now it's time to move on. Goodbye, godfather, and you too, all of you! My friends, you were there to help me almost all of the times that I really needed you … my teachers, who taught me what I needed to know to survive till now … my family, all of you …" he nearly passed out.

 "Please everyone! Don't crowd!" that was Sky Dawn, he realised. "Everyone who isn't part of Ferux – Harry's – immediate family, or the Weasley's, please back off and leave us alone with him for the last few moments!"

 To Harry's surprise, that was exactly what happened.

 "Well mate, famous till the end?" Ron asked, but there was no jealousy, and Harry could easily hear the pain in his friends voice.

 He reached out his hand, and felt Ron's one placed in his. "Thanks for being there for me, Ron," he whispered, voice hoarse with emotion and weak from pain.

 He lay there for a short time, listening as the friends who were his family said goodbye. He would have cried if he were not so far gone towards his death that emotions no longer choked him.

 Finally Sky Dawn requested that everyone leave her and Harry alone for the last moment. 

 Harry turned his head towards her in surprise, seeing no more than a hazy outline of her beautiful frame. 

 "Ferux? Can you still hear me?" Her voice was choked with emotion and he was hard put to answer her.

 "Yes," he managed, finally.

 "Good. I have to tell you … I should have told you before … why must fate be so cruel? Elisa told me that you liked me … and I just wanted you to know … I loved you too, Harry, I could have loved you forever! Why do you have to go now?"

 She was crying, Harry realised, this thought followed a moment later by: she means it! She loved me! "I wish I didn't have to die," he hadn't thought that he'd still be able to feel emotion, but suddenly he was once more overwhelmed by it. "I could have loved you too, Sky … foreverr…"

 His voice trailed off as his weird golden-green eyes flickered closed for the last time, his final breath trailing away even as the words did.

 Sky Dawn was left cradling his still form against her chest, sobbing for the cruelty of the world.

***********************************************************

Bet none of you were expecting that huh! Well, Deceptions is very nearly over, the Epilogue will be out REALLY soon, I promise! (Yes, there is a little more to this, just tying up lose ends – don't kill me until AFTER you've read that, please). This may take a little while to get out, since I'm away for the next five days. 

Again, all thanks will be in the epilogue – have you got any idea how long it takes to write out over 800 thanks? Oh, and PLEASE review, even if it is just to say you hate me for killing him *grins* cya in the epilogue, folks!

~WolfMoon~


	28. Epilogue

Epilogue:

AN: just tying up a few things *grins*

Sky Dawn never fell in love with another man, not because she remained faithful to her lost love's memory, but rather that no one else she found was ever that elusive Mr. Right.

 Ron and Hermione became engaged two years after the Final Battle and the Founding of the Gateway, age nineteen, and married a year later, age twenty. 

 The Ministry of Magic decided that having a Minister didn't really work, and decided to do things a little differently from now on – they now have two Ministers elected at the one time, who work together to make sure that the Magical World functions properly.

 They remain in service for only two years, but may be re-elected after a term has been between the two elections. This made treachery in the Ministry a lot less than before.

Sirius and Menolly Black name their son Harry, in honor of Sirius's late godson. With Lady Lilith and Lord Jaram and their young son and daughter, the three young children who's namesakes all died in the Final Battle became great friends in later life, Sirius and Menolly acting, along with Sky Dawn, as their godfamily.

  Not long after the Final Battle, high in the mountains of Atlantis, a mother Canis Dracis turned her head to look at her new-born pup, gently nuzzling the little creature, drying off the birth fluids with a gentle tongue.

 The little creature mewled, and opened its eyes, and for a moment it's mother sat back in surprise. The little creature had glowing green eyes*. 

 Dismissing this oddity, the mother nudged her new born son to her breast were it could feed and grow strong.

 And the little creature fed, not knowing that one day he would pass from this world to that of the far away Earth, to become a guardian of the light, to keep the dark from rising again. Not knowing that with the human woman Sky Dawn as his partner, he would learn about the world of men he could no longer remember. Not knowing that he would be reunited with friends he didn't know he had. Not knowing all this, the young Canis Dracis, who had been Harry Potter in a life that was now past, was content to eat, sleep and grow.

*Canis Dracis only ever have silver eyes.

A lot of people asked why I killed Harry – the answer to that is that in a lot of ways, his life would be kinda boring once Lord Voldything (I LOVE THAT NAME) was gone, and, as you saw here, I have a different purpose for him.

 I'm really sorry that this isn't longer, but I didn't have all that much left to tie up, I wanted to be able to leave a few things in dispute for readers to work out themselves.

 IMPORTANT!

If anyone wants to write a companion piece/continuation of this, please just state your intentions in an email to wolfmoon44@hotmail.com. If you do this, please make the subject something to do with fanfiction, because I have a junk mail folder, and I might not get your email if you don't have it something that'll let me know where it's from.

 I'll put up the stories that are written in the Deceptions line, also any of my other stories, either in another chapter here or on my bio page! Just let me know what you are doing and that way I can keep an eye on it and so can others who liked my story.

 I will not be continuing this story myself, I've just begun an original ficiton (it's already 28 or so pages long *blushes* I'm trying to make it good and I might try get it published – I'll tell you I do, and otherwise I'll hopefully put up on fictionpress.net).

****************************************************************************************************************

Well, how was that? My masterpiece is over *sobs* well, I'll leave you with those few lines, and I hope that you can live your lives to the best of your abilities, do what you want to do and never let anyone force you into something you don't want to do. I will put up another chapter or something if I decide to do something new, I might update my bio, so keep a look out there, and if I get a book published, I promise to let you know! I did finish this pretty much the same day I finished Deceptions final chapter, but the thanks and notes took a while *sighs* and the reviews took FOREVER! Anyways …

 IMPORTANT!

If anyone wants to write a companion piece/continuation of this, please just state your intentions in an email to wolfmoon44@hotmail.com. If you do this, please make the subject something to do with fanfiction, because I have a junk mail folder, and I might not get your email if you don't have it something that'll let me know where it's from.

 I'll put up the stories that are written in the Deceptions line, also any of my other stories, either in another chapter here or on my bio page! Just let me know what you are doing and that way I can keep an eye on it and so can others who liked my story.

 I will not be continuing this story myself, I've just begun an original ficiton (it's already 28 or so pages long *blushes* I'm trying to make it good and I might try get it published – I'll tell you I do, and otherwise I'll hopefully put up on fictionpress.net).

Thanks For the Whole Story 

Chapter One:

Queen of the Jungle, Hermione-potter, Zeva Blackstone, Katydidnt, Lady Foxfire, spacecadet, le'Ange de Mort, BlackDragon, Arkayas, The Red Dragons Order, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, valeries26, bob, bob, Songbreeze Swifteye, Heather, Brion, Maxx77, ER, fanfiction reader, Clare, Anaxandra, Rachel A. Prongs, wquad, Clare, Queen of Redwall, Pringle, Queen of the Jungle, Amber Evans Potter, Katrina, BlindJedi, PheonixRising, JerseyGirl03, Arianne, Snakeboy, White Rider, noraseyes, I can't believe it's not butter!

Chapter Two:

Rachel A. Prongs, BlackDragon, Anaxandra, wquad, Songbreeze Swifteye, Heather, Brion, kitty, Clare, le'Ange de Mort, PR LUCKEN, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Professor Authordude, Maxx77, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, maria, ettedanreb, Old Fawkes, Jocelyn, Queen of Redwall.

Chapter Three:

BlackDragon, le'Ange de Mort, shdurrani, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Clare, maria, brion, PR LUCKEN, ADJ, Songbreeze Swifteye, Jocelyn, syd, Mr. Happy Java Man, ~Mary~, Old Fawkes, blackunicorn, Lady Rowena.

Chapter Four:

Wquad, Songbreeze Swifteye, Brion, Jordan, Clare, Povlyn, le'Ange de Mort, PR LUCKEN, Mr. Happy Java Man, Them Girl, Maxx77, Melissa, Old Fawkes, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, CR, CR, syd, Bob33, Rachel A. Prongs, FireChild3.

Chapter Five:

Jordan, PR LUCKEN, wquad, katrina, Rachel A. Prongs, shdurrani, Clare, LoMaRiBa, le'Ange de Mort, Them Girl, BeachBabe2915, Songbreeze Swifteye, Myrddin Ambrosius, Maxie, CatatonicReaction, AtheneLupin, Maxx77, Anaxandra, Mr. Happy Java Man, Queen of the Jungle, Dog Stars Crush, anz-devil-999, smilez, alamarang, James Prongs Potter.

Chapter Six:

Jordan, PR LUCKEN, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Rachel A. Prongs, Them Girl, Lady Rowena, le'Ange de Mort, Tasidia, Anaxandra, Songbreeze Swifteye, Dog Stars Crush, Clare, Honor, Maxx77, Maxx77, BigDaddy753, smilez, Orion, Rave, Stoofie, ThunderJam, PhoenixMan, Maxennce, Old Fawkes, Princess55, fantasydima, alamarang.

Chapter Seven:

Jordan, le'Ange de Mort, solar, Maxx77, Bob33, Knot2be, brion, etfrompo, alana, Lord R, fantasydima, Songbreeze Swifteye, CR, Dog Stars Crush, Orion, wquad, Clare, Old Fawkes, DaBear, Zaln, glimmer, Princess55, Them Girl, Jess S, phoenixrising, Queen of the Jungle, alamarang.

Chapter Eight:

Princess55, shdurrani, le'Ange de Mort, Lord R, Maxx77, CatatonicReaction, smilez, Clare, wquad, fantasydima, Songbreeze Swifteye, dragonmaster, Jordan, kateydidnt, neha, GunSmoke, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, StarBurst598, darkfire, Orion, IceDrake, Rachel A. Prongs, phoenixrising, Jess S, Star Mage, grumpy2348, Mike Potter 2002, blackunicorn, Queen of Redwall, alamarang, Scott.

Chapter Nine:

Athenakitty, Jordan, kateydidnt, Rachel A. Prongs, Jess S, atalante, Lord R, icedrake, wquad, Hermione HP, Dog Stars Crush, phoenixrising, princess55, ??, Queen of the Jungle, black unicorn, CatatonicReaction, justagrl, Congessor Kahlan, ettedanreb, Old Fawkes, le'Ange de Mort, Clare, Them Girl, BigDaddy753, ALPHA WOLFE, Queen of Redwall, Songbreeze Swifteye, Crab Apple Fairy, Mr. Happy Java Man, Harmoni, michelli, alamarang, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, TNYTHMS.

Chapter Ten:

Wquad, dragonmaster, Rachel A. Prongs, atalante, icedrake, le'Ange de Mort, Bob33, BigDaddy753, Songbreeze Swifteye, MusicalHermione, Star Mage, silverleaf, fantasydima, SlytherinAtHeart, justagrl, Dog Stars Crush, Maxx77, Clare, Jess S, etfrompo, athenakitty, princess55, Li Kota Down, Lady Prongs, Jordan, Pamela-Potter-24, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Them Girl, FlyingGoat, melockerty, FireDrake, FireDrake, Queen of the Jungle, alamarang, noraseyes.

  
Chapter Eleven:

Flipnai, Destruxion, Darkfire, GunSmoke, dragonmaster, Rachal A. Prongs, Jordan, Red Dragons Order, Wytil, Silverleaf, ShadowHunter, BigDaddy753, SlytherinAtHeart, wquad, Tasidia, alamarang, phenixrising, Sharp Edge, Fantasydima, Shadow Seeker, Miranda Wecker, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Maxx77, Queen of the Jungle, Dog Stars Crush, duke of earl, Mysterious666, Jess S, Old Fawkes, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, etfrompo, princess55, JeZeBeL, Mr. Happy Java Man, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, SkySong, Lady Prongs, potter_is_hot, Laurabelle, Lord R, Sweets, Sweets, giraffe, Narcissa Malfoy.

Chapter Twelve:

Harmoni, Maxx77, Dog Stars Crush, Green Eyed Knight, SlytherinAtHeart, pheonixrising, Rachel A. Prongs, Solar, BloodRedSword, Lord R, litine, Tasidia, Lady Prongs, etfromp, fantasydima, Zaz, Lexi, giraffe, princess55, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Lucy, Mysterious, JerseyGirl03, Mr. Happy Java Man, Clare, Jordan, Asarunakarm, athenakitty, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, ambookworm247.

Chapter Thirteen:

Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Jordan, Rachel A. Prongs, JerseyGirl03, solar, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Clare, GunSmoke, Devonny Rose, Lord R, Rachel A. Prongs, Zaz, Maxx77, fantasydima, SlytherinAtHeart, princess55, Dog Stars Crush, Songbreeze Swifteye, Them Girl, Jess S, alana, Narcissa Malfoy, Skysong, ambookworm247, Gwendellen Snape, Queen of Redwall, Queen of Redwall, etfrompo, scott, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Mysterious666, Tasidia, Old Fawkes.

Chapter Fourteen:

Rachel A. Prongs, Lord R, solar, Wytil, Lady Reaper of the Shadows, Cadnet, Jordan, SlytherinAtHeart, ambookworm247, Them Girl, Songbreeze Swifteye, Maxx77, Narcissa Malfoy, Tasidia, Mysterious666, athenakitty, JerseyGirl03, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Lady Prongs, Clare, Lady Bird, Princess55, Dog Stars Crush, pheonixrising, Mandie, Pamela-Potter-24, Destruxion, Mr. Happy Java Man.

Chapter Fifteen:

Litine, JerseyGirl03, Solar, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Devonny Rose, Songbreeze Swifteye, Jordan, Marauder kinchu, Maxx77, Queen of Redwall, Clare, keely116, pheonixrising, Miranda Wecker, Lord R, SlytherinAtHeart, Rachel A. Prongs, Dog Stars Crush, etfrompo, fantasydima, athenakitty, Lady Prongs, Orion, Flying Goat, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Destruxion, Arianne, Lleu, pamela-potter-24, Miranda Wecker, crissy.

Chapter Sixteen:

Solar, brion, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Rachel A. Prongs, Devonny Rose, Rogue1615, Lleu, SlytherinAtHeart, litine, Destruxion, Lady Prongs, Narcissa Malfoy, Miranda Wecker, laxie_79, princess55, Aensland, fizzlebug49, frostinglolo, Fay Stone, Songbreeze Swifteye, Maxx77, JerseyGirl03, Queen of Redwall, Baby Sphinx, Tasidia, fantasydima, pheonixrising, mercurygirl, Catclysmic, grand admiral chelli, Queen of the Jungle, Mandie, Dog Stars Crush, Flying Goat, Clare, Jordan, Queen of the Jungle, ujstagurl, Them Girl, Sew2100.

Chapter Seventeen:

Solar, Narcissa Malfoy, Them Girl, Cataclysmic, JerseyGirl03, SlytherinAtHeart, Lady Prongs, pheonixrising, Readboy, princess55, Fay Stone, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Maikafuiniel, FlyingGoat, athenakitty, Maxx77, Destruxion, Orion, Mercury Girl, jordan, Stuunad, Clare, Mysterious666, brion, Dog Stars Crush, Paige, fantasydima, Songbreeze Swifteye, Queen of the Jungle, Lizzy Black, Old Fawkes, Kurbani, LadyD, pamela-potter-24, Lynxie Alyssum, Destruxion, sew2100.

Chapter Eighteen:

Tasidia, Narcissa Malfoy, fantasydima, Nerwen, Orion, Ian, Aensland, pheonixrising, Dog Stars Crush, Songbreeze Swifteye, Temporary Insanity, Queen of Redwall, Lady Valura, LadyD, Clare, mercurygirl, hyper yoyo boy, SnakeBoy, Thelvyn, theauthorthatwrites, pamela-potter-24, BlackDragon, Ashura The Destroyer, Blue saiyan, sew2100, etfrompo, JerseyGirl03, Xirleb70, Fay Stone, naïve, Lleu, princess55, Bridgette, Destruxion, Lady Prongs, Joe, Lynxie Alyssum aka Peppers.

Chapter Nineteen

Destruxion, Clare, Jordan, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Queen of the Jungle, Cataclysmic, Morph012, GunSmoke, JerseyGirl03, SlytherinAtHeart, Narcissa Malfoy, Dog Stars Crush, mercurygirl, Dobbyelfhouse, keebler-elmo, Brandon, Ian, LadyD, Teiraluna, Peppers, pamela-potter-24, AG, Old Fawkes, athenakitty, Lady Prongs, Lexi, gaul.

Chapter Twenty:

Rachel A. Prongs, Jordan, Brion, Maxx77, JerseyGirl03, Narcissa Malfoy, snakeboy, Lady Prongs, FlamingMoth, pheonixrising, Lexi. (this is the chapter that most of the reviews were deleted by ff.net – sorry again to anyone who reviewed but hasn't been thanked!)

Chapter Twenty-One:

Destruxion brion JerseyGirl03 Queen of the Jungle Ashura The Destroyer etfrompo Maxx77 Songbreeze Swifteye SlytherinAtHeart princess55 Rachel A. Prongs Lady Phoenix Gryffindor Narcissa Malfoy FlyingGoat Angelis sew2100 Lady Prongs jerry Jaded*Secrets Clare Dog Stars Crush mercurygirl athenakitty blank pamela-potter-24 snake boy blondi gurl Ian pheonixrising

Chapter Twenty-Two:

athenakitty Anja Rachel A. Prongs Dream Sequencer Destruxion SlytherinAtHeart Maxx77 JerseyGirl03 Xirleb70 LadyD Lady Prongs Lita of Jupiter Silver Scale Serpent Narcissa Malfoy Headmaster Cromwell Songbreeze Swifteye Shadow of a Cat Queen of the Jungle fizzlebug49 potter313 pheonixrising Lleu Dog Stars Crush

Chapter Twenty-Three:

yo dog Xirleb70 Caladbolg Labtc sew2100 LadyD SlytherinAtHeart Maxx77 keebler-elmo Jaded*Secrets JerseyGirl03 Lady Prongs Queen of the Jungle Songbreeze Swifteye Tara fizzlebug49 Narcissa Malfoy Shadow of a Cat pheonixrising maggie Silver Scale Serpent Angelis Naomi SilverWolf athenakitty fantasydima Dog Stars Crush

Chapter Twenty-Four:

Destruxion Rachel A. Prongs Shadow of a Cat JerseyGirl03 Queen of the Jungle Maxx77 Tara Songbreeze Swifteye sew2100 Xirleb70 Brion Naomi SilverWolf KC LadyD pheonixrising Anja Clare stayblue Anja maggie princess55 Jordan athenakitty Lleu Lady Prongs Tasidia coolchick207 Old Fawkes Lady Cinnibar Dog Stars Crush blondi gurl fantasydima

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Destruxion athenakitty Xirleb70 brion JerseyGirl03 Queen of the Jungle mandie/snuffles blondi gurl Maxx77 keebler-elmo Songbreeze Swifteye A-Potter-Person Tara Clare sew2100 Dog Stars Crush coolchick207 Jordan pheonixrising x wolfpup x Lleu princess55 Narcissa Malfoy DoomSpell Lady Prongs Naomi SilverWolf Silver Scale Serpent Jaded*Secrets Jackie Potter etfrompo kingofcliffy 

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Brion Queen of the Jungle Queen of the Jungle sew2100 Destruxion mandie/snuffles athenakitty stayblue JerseyGirl03 Tara Aensland cd Xirleb70 x wolfpup x Maxx77 pheonixrising Jordan Cataclysmic Brandon Narcissa Malfoy Jaded*Secrets Orion princess55 Clare etfrompo sgtharrison46 Lleu Yak-Cool Dog Stars Crush X13 Silver Scale Serpent Lady Prongs keebler-elmo 

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Maxx77 Xirleb70 Jordan stayblue Snakeboy Silnar Jaded*Secrets hyper yoyo boy Aensland Orion Clare SlytherinAtHeart wytil pheonixrising leviathan athenakitty Tara Cr1Ms0n^D3v1L tarya jaina Demon-Child keebler-elmo Lady Prongs Songbreeze Swifteye kingofcliffy Jorj Car'Das etfrompo princess55 IRM Karmada Narcissa Malfoy OliverLover4Life ashley wright Lleu millenium-dragon Fizzlebug49 theauthorthatwrites Brandon Insane hyper lemon pop Kalorna Enera Kagome-Chan Sailor C Jack Anja Dragon Mage Twilight Dusk aka lazy angelic-devil dragonmaster Dog Stars Crush mne gaul JerseyGirl03 yeknottemaster chrismking208@yahoo.com Joe Silver Scale Serpent fantasydima Angelis mandie/snuffles 'Allo!

*pants* finally done!


	29. AN: New Stories

~*Authors Note*~

 Hey everyone! I've got a new story! It's called 'After the Dawn' and it's an AU. For those of you who haven't noticed (and I've been slack about putting this authors note up, I know) I have a sixth year fic called 'In Every Darkness' which has been going on for some … Two months or so now.

 Please check out both stories, you'll find links to them in my bio. Sorry again for those of you who didn't notice the new story because I hadn't put this up yet. I know there are some people whose email addresses I don't have, so I never notified you.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, and I hope to see you reading/reviewing my new stories soon!

~WolfMoon~


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